Kanto Safari
by Hunnybear22
Summary: During their visit to the Kanto safari zone, Dawn gets seperated from Ash and Brock and winds up lost with Paul. Team Rocket has unleashed the pokerus virus, will Dawn and Paul be able to make it out safely? *COMPLETE*
1. Journey To the Safari Zone

**Hello again everyone! Thanks for the reviews on my last story.**

Well, I planned on writing a story about Seto Kaiba, but for some reason I couldn't come up with anything good at the moment. After watching the latest battle between Paul and Ash, I knew I had to write a story about him. I'm not very familiar with the newer pokemon episodes, I'll always love the old ones. I really enjoy Paul's character though, so I hope you all enjoy.

Kanto Safari

Chapter 1 - "Journey To the Safari"

The tray of pokeballs with the yellow mouse pokemon sitting on top was handed to Ash, "Thanks, Blissey!"

"Bliss-blissey!" It smiled happily.

Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder as he put his pokeballs back into his belt, Ash then turned around toward Brock and Dawn who were eyeing a poster on the wall of the pokemon center. _What are they looking at over there?_

Ash walked over to his friends, "Hey, guys. What are you looking at it?"

"Ash, you haven't checked this out yet? It looks like the Kanto region is hosting a three day Kanto Safari event." Brock explained.

"That's right," Nurse Joy said walking over to the group.

"You're Ash, right?"

Ash blinked and pointed to himself, "Uh, yeah, that's me."

Nurse Joy smiled, "I've heard a lot of good things about you from the other Nurse Joys in the Kanto region."

Brock began to spin in circles with little hearts dancing around his head, "Did they say anything good about me, Nurse Joy?"

She continued to smile, "The Kanto region is hosting the three day event because of the excess of pokemon that are now there. Trainers from all regions all welcome to sign up for a free trip over there for some pokemon catching fun!"

"Wow, really? That sounds great, I'd love to go back to Kanto for a few of days. What do you guys think?"

Dawn was unknowingly blocking out the other three people after noticing Paul walk into the pokemon center. _What's __**he**__ doing here? _Dawn thought to herself, always frustrated over the fact that Paul worked his pokemon into the ground and rarely brings them to the center; Dawn watched as Paul took his pokemon to Blissey at the counter.

_He really is healing is pokemon…_

"Dawn?"

Dawn snapped out of it and shook her head side to side, "Huh? What?"

Brock laughed lightly, "Ash and I asked if you would want to sign up for the Kanto Safari trip."

Dawn stared at the two boys for a moment, "Oh, yeah. Yeah! That'd be great, we'll be able to see so many more pokemon!"

Paul overheard the annoying the voice of the girl with the blue hair from the counter, he looked over his shoulder.

"That's wonderful you've all decided to go, I think you will enjoy it. So, the sign up sheet is right here…" Nurse Joy trailed off as she handed them the chart with the sign up sheet on it.

"You're lucky you three came here, the train will leave for Kanto tomorrow morning. Make sure to rest up, and say hi to the Nurse Joy's over there for me." The pink haired woman smiled as she walked back to the pokemon center counter.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Ash called to her.

Ash, Brock and Dawn wrote their names down and then began heading outside, Dawn was last to leave, but noticed Paul staring over from the counter. She looked back at him curiously, but he was not looking at her, he was staring at the Kanto Safari poster. Paul then directed his eyes onto Dawn, who was busy staring back at the purple haired boy.

"Hmph," he grunted as he turned around toward Blissey; Dawn's face turned into a frown and she growled as she walked out of the pokemon center. She met up with Ash and Brock outside, "Well, it's almost five now. We should probably get something to eat and decide on where we'll be staying tonight, the sign up sheet said the train will be leaving from Eterna station at five pm in the-"

"Five in the morning!?" Ash shouted, "I knew Nurse Joy said it was early, but five o'clock!?"

"You'll be sleeping on the train anyway, Ash." Dawn joked.

"Ash will sleep anywhere that early in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah." Ash said waving his hand back and forth at this friends.

"Let's go get something to eat, I'm starving." Dawn said rubbing her stomache, and the group walked down the road to the closest inn

Later that night, Dawn was tossing in bed; even though she felt tired, she couldn't manage to fall asleep. She looked over at Ash and Brock sound asleep in their beds, she let out a sigh and turned onto her other side facing away from them. A few seconds later she turned onto her back, Dawn ran her fingers through her hair and scratched her head.

_Am I ever going to be able to get a good sleep?_

The alarm went off at 4:30 am, it was too early, even for Dawn. It felt like she had just fallen asleep when the annoying buzzing sound began going off, she put her pillow over her head and assumed one of the boys would turn it off. Brock moaned and turned over to turn the clock off, he stretched and yawned then looked over at Ash. The black haired trainer was cuddling Pikachu, the yellow mouse was trying to break free of Ash's grasp who seemed to be dreaming in his deep sleep despite the alarm clock going off.

"Come on, guys. It's time to wake up, we'll be late if we don't leave soon." Brock said gathering his belongings. Dawn finally pulled the pillow off of her head, her hair was frizzy and she still looked extremely sleepy; Brock went into the washroom, Dawn looked over at Ash and yawned.

"Come on, Ash," she began as she shook his shoulder gently. "We need to get ready and get going, we'll miss our train."

Ash grumbled to himself and woke up, he rubbed his eyes and looked at Dawn, then looked at the time and groaned.

"Aww, it's so early."

Brock came out of the washroom, "It is, but we have to get going. The faster you get up the faster we'll get to the train and you can sleep all you want."

Ash and Dawn reluctantly got out of bed and readied themselves to leave, Ash fell asleep standing up, but Dawn managed to shake him awake again. The three trainers walked out of their room and out of the inn, it was still early and the sun was not up yet. Ash, Brock and Dawn made their way down the dimly lit streets until they reached the train station; Brock saw a large poster with the same Kanto Safari picture on it from the pokemon center, there were two men dressed in green with the words "Kanto" written on their arm bands. Ash looked ahead towards where Brock was looking at, there were a handful of trainers boarding the train; Ash didn't recognize any of them, and probably still wouldn't have if he did know any in his current tired state.

The three trainers walked up to the men who were letting the trainers through onto the train, "Names?"

"Brock, Dawn, and Ash," Brock said speaking up.

The one man looked over his chart then looked back at the trio, "Alright, you're clear to go. Enjoy your trip to Kanto."

Hearing the name of his home region made Ash perk up a bit, the three walked on board and the small train was nicely decorated and had a clean feel to it. There were trainers that filled up most of the seats, "We had better find a spot quick you two, or we probably won't be able to sit together."

Ash scanned the area and saw up ahead there were four open seats, "There!" Ash shouted as he darted towards his destination while barreling through Dawn, Brock and the other trainers in the isle. Pikachu held onto Ash's shoulder as he dove into the seat against the window, he let out a sigh of relief, "Now I can sleep." Ash said stretching.

Brock and Dawn made their way toward the trainer and looked at the open seats Ash was surrounded by then sat down; Dawn sat across from Brock and Ash hoping no one else would take the open seat beside her so she could lay down to sleep.

"Brock, what time is it now?" She asked.

"4:50, this is going to be an all day ride, Dawn. You had better get some rest."

Dawn nodded and kept her fingers crossed in her mind that no one else was going to take the seat; after a few more minutes had gone by Dawn was about to take off her backpack and use it as a pillow, then stopped. Walking down the isle with hands in his pocket, was Paul.

_Ugh, no! If he sits here…_

Dawn looked down at the rest of the seats she could see in front of her, they were all taken by other trainers. Dawn gulped as Paul neared her and her friend's, she looked straight at Paul when he stopped a few steps in front of her. Ash noticed Dawn was staring in the other direction of him and Brock, "Is something wrong, Dawn? It- huh? Paul?"

Brock looked over to his side as Paul looked at the group of three trainers, a low growl was heard in his throat, but he managed to get out words he thought he would never say to this group.

"Is this seat taken?"

The trio stared at the purple haired trainer, Brock then spoke up, "Well, no. I guess this must be one of the last seats, you're welcome to sit down."

Paul grunted and he stepped over the feet of Dawn and Brock, the free space was a window seat; Paul was left wondering why Dawn had not taken it. Sitting down in his seat Paul slumped down with his backpack in front of him, he caught Ash staring at him, "What are you looking at?" Paul said sternly.

Ash was too tired to respond, and instead looked away from the grumpy trainer and rested his head on his hand as he tried to fall asleep. There was a long awkward silence, Dawn was holding onto to her backpack fiddling with the straps while Brock pulled out a pokemon breeding book; before looking inside, the breeder decided to ask Paul why he was here instead of continuing through the gyms in Sinnoh.

"So, Paul, have you come to see a little bit of Kanto and capture a few pokemon? It really is a great region."

Paul looked over at the pokemon breeder, Brock noticed Paul also was tired; the purple haired trainer's eyes were half open and facial expression was identical to Ash's earlier this morning.

"A few pokemon? I wouldn't go all of the way out to Kanto to only capture a _few_ pokemon. I'm here to capture the strongest Kanto's safari zone has to offer, that's it."

There was another long silence, but Brock managed to give a little smile and nod as he began to read through his book; Dawn had been watching the tired trainer's movements and bickering between him and her two friends.

_He does seem grumpier than usual…_

Paul stared at the floor, then placed his backpack underneath his feet; he laid back into his seat and tried to avoid looking at Brock and Ash sitting across from him. Pikachu was looking out the window as Ash began to snore lightly, it was inevitable for the Kanto trainer to fall asleep.

Dawn admired the clean cut look to the train, and felt cheerful to be on a small new journey with her friends, even if Paul's gumpy attitude would get in the way for the beginning of the trip. Though the train was packed with other pokemon trainers, it was quiet for the amount of people who were on board; it was now 5am, and Dawn could see that most people on the train were not early birds.

Dawn shifted in her seat a few times to get comfortable, she must have slept wrong, her back and neck felt sore; Paul was getting more agitated from Dawn's constant movement, "Will you stop already?"

The train was so quiet that it seemed Paul had yelled at her, and it caught some of the other trainers attention; Dawn was not in the mood to argue with him at this hour, but she wasn't about to be bossed around.

"Well excuse me, your highness! I need to get comfortable."

Paul stared into blue eyes of the other trainer for a moment, then crossed his arms and changed his gaze to out the window.

"Annoying girl," he muttered.

Dawn set her backpack down underneath her as the train began to move, she leaned ahead a little bit to get a good view out of the window; Paul looked back over his shoulder, their eyes both shot daggers at each other and Dawn grumbled to herself and decided to sit back down in her seat. The calm and smooth movement from the train began to make Dawn feel tired, she could feel her eyes getting heavier, her head fell forward but she snapped out of her state to pull herself back up. Her eyelids began to fall, and she had forgotten that Paul was ever sitting beside her, everything began to get darker.

Afer seeing the same sights as he would walking around in Sinnoh, Paul sat back in his seat and stared forward down the isle; he himself also felt exhausted, he remained keeping his arms crossed until he began to lose consiousness. Paul's arms slowly unraveled themselves and then rested on his lap, Paul had immediately fallen into a deep sleep and was slightly leaning to Dawn's side. Dawn's head dropped forward as she also fell asleep, and as the train gently took a corner her body was pushed up against Paul's.

Awake, Dawn would have pulled away from the purple haired boy immediately, but both trainers were fast asleep; Dawn's head now rested on Paul's shoulder while Paul leaned his head over Dawn's.

Brock saw the two trainers leaning against each other, he chuckled to himself and turned the page in his book; seeing as how Brock was the only one in their group of four awake, he decided that he would leave the two trainers be in hopes of seeing some fireworks when either one woke up.

The train remained silent with a few bumps here and there, Dawn felt a warm feeling come over her, she had not been sleeping well the previous nights and now she was able to somehow sleep peacefully, but why now? A small bump woke Dawn, and she slowly opened her eyes for a second and looked down, she could see the dark blue sleeves of someone, but was half asleep and did not bother to think anything of it. She felt content, and she again closed her eyes and unknowingly snuggled against Paul's shoulder; Paul's eyes twitched in his sleep from the movement, but he did not wake up.

Morning went by quickly, and it was now into the afternoon; the sun was shining brightly through most of the non-covered windows, and most trainers on the train were beginning to wake up. Brock had been dozing off with his book in front of him and Pikachu had been sleeping in Ash's lap, though Ash was snoring loudly it did not seem to bother the other three trainers throughout the morning.

The sunlight beaming in from the window hit Dawn's face, she held her eyes shut tight but had no other choice but to adjust herself; Dawn moved her head underneath Paul's to face away from the sun, this stirred him in his sleep and he awoke. Paul remembered he was on the train to Kanto, and that he was also sitting with Ash and his annoying friends; he felt warmth underneath him and he lifted his head and looked down. Paul blinked and was shocked to see Dawn laying on his shoulder, his eyes then narrowed and he shoved the girl off of him. Dawn quickly snapped awake, she looked at Paul as he opened his mouth, "Stay on your _own_ side."

His words were so cold, Dawn rubbed her arm trying to remember what happened and why Paul was even mad at her. Was she really on his side of the seat? Brock looked over at the startled girl, "Dawn, you were so tired this morning you fell asleep on Paul's shoulder. You too, Paul. You guys have been sleeping against each other all morning."

Both trainers raised their eyebrows while their mouths dropped open, they had shocked expressions across their faces, "What?" Paul said sternly.

"You both looked exhausted, the good thing is is that you now have gotten some needed rest, right?"

Paul and Dawn glanced at each other, then looked away, "Hmph," Dawn growled as she too crossed her arms and legs.

The chatter grew louder inside the train as the hours in the afternoon went by, Ash awoke for a few minutes and attempted to chat with his friends, but ended up falling back asleep; Dawn had been reading a magazine she pulled out of her backpack, she still couldn't get over Paul's attitude from earlier. That warm feeling though, was sleeping against Paul the cause of it?

_No._

Dawn thought to herself as she viciously flicked through another page, _I was just tired, that's all._

During the afternoon, Paul had been comparing his pokemon to each other, but he was now resting his head on his hand as he began to doze off again; Dawn noticed Paul's head fall forward from the corner of her eye, she looked over at the trainer. Paul couldn't keep himself awake, and like Dawn earlier, was drifting in and out of conciousness in his seat; Dawn giggled to herself and she watched him snap himself awake a few more times.

Paul finally drifted off into slumber and Dawn watched him rest peacefully, she then shook her head back and forth and stared back down at her magazine.

_What am I looking at him for?_

Dawn flipped through a couple more pages, even though she wasn't reading them; the train took another turn on the tracks and Paul's body was now up against Dawn's. She held her breath for a few seconds, then looked down at the sleeping boy; it was not in Dawn's heart to shove him off so easily like Paul had done to her earlier, she couldn't make a decision on whether or not to leave him like he was or wake him up.

_Leave him like this? Why would I even…_

Dawn then shook him gently and used her shoulder to move Paul back onto his own side, Paul's eyes fluttered open; Brock and Dawn were both staring at him, he cleared his throat and then rested his head on his hand again and drifted back to sleep.

Dawn let out a long and quiet sigh, Brock hid a smile that would have went across his face and went back to reading his book, he was almost done and soon the sun would be going down.

The train went dark again, and all trainers were now awake and eating; Paul stayed in his corner while eating trying to ignore the others by staring down at his plate. Ash, Brock and Dawn joked around as everyone seemed to be in a better and more awake mood; Paul was asked by the others if he wanted to join in the conversation, but he simply continued to ignore them.

After a long day of sitting, the train finally reached their destination in Kanto; the chatter on the train grew louder as it came to a stop, everyone was excited to get off and stretch their legs.

"We're here!" Ash shouted, Pikachu was bouncing up and down in his lap, it too was happy to be back in Kanto.

The trio put their belongings away and rose up out of their seats, and one by one each trainer was being let off; Paul bumped his way through Brock, Dawn and Ash to get ahead of them in line.

Brock followed behind the purple haired trainer as their turn to get off neared, Ash and Dawn walked slowly behind him.

"You're going to love it here, Dawn." Ash said.

She smiled as she walked, she noticed Paul looking out the window; it was now dark outside, and there was a feeling of excitement in the air. As they reached the exit, it was Dawn's turn to step off, and she tripped suddenly between the train and the gap to the ground, "Wahhh!"

Dawn fell forward knocking into Brock, who got knocked into Paul; all three fell forward and Ash was left scratching his head, slightly amused that he was not the clumsy one for once. Paul coughed, Brock was laying on top of him with Dawn laying on top of Brock; Paul shot Dawn a dirty look, a hand then reached down in front of his face and Paul turned his head.

"Welcome to the Kanto Safari Zone!"


	2. In Need of Friends and Fire

**I had a little trouble writing this chapter for some reason, but I'm excited for the ones to come. So keep checking back, and thank you for the comments already. I know that Piplup follows Dawn around, but honestly, I don't like that thing. Sorry Piplup fans, I'm not even sure if I will write it into the story. I normally don't write two chapters in one day, but I still have shiney new story syndrome. I don't plan on ever abandoning this or any other story I write, and on average this and future stories will be updated once a week.**

Enjoy :)  
  
Kanto Safari

Chapter 2 - "In Need of Fire and Friends"

"Welcome to the Kanto safari zone!" The man said holding out his hand in front of Paul, Paul stared at it for a second before taking his hand to lift himself up off of the ground. Brock and Dawn climbed down and dusted themselves off, "Sorry about that, hehe."

Dawn kicked the air feeling embarrassed while holding her hands behind her back, Paul would have given Dawn an ugly comment, but his attention was on the Kanto Safari employee.

"Looks like you're one of the last to get off, welcome! Please come this way, my name is Louis."

Not actually being part of their group, Paul walked ahead of Dawn and friends and followed Louis and the long line of trainers entering the large building up ahead. Dawn looked up at the large sign above the building with the words "Kanto Safari Zone" written across it, she could already see the large valleys and forests behind the entrance area.

Excitedly, Ash ran up ahead and waved for Brock and Dawn to follow; the other two trainers ran up to catch Ash, and along with the other crowd of people they all walked into the building. All of the seats were already taken, and most people were standing up; the group of trainers were surrounded by safari employees and safari catching equipment. Louis walked up to the front and raised his arms into the air, "Welcome, trainers. We're so glad to have you here, we have had a surge in the number of pokemon in our zone, so we are pleased to have you spend a few days with us and capture all of the pokemon you like."

Dawn smiled to herself, _Ash was right, this does seem like it will be a lot of fun._

"It is evening, so you all will be starting tomorrow morning at 7am. You can camp right out front of the entrance here where the safari zone valley begins, though you will not be able to leave your area until 7. This is a three day event, you're allowed to be out in the field for two days, and we'd like for you to spend the third day at our safari festival in town. Now, we will provide you with your thirty pokeballs and bait. There are check points all around the valleys that have dispensible pokeball machines in case anyone needs extra. Are there any questions?"

A couple people raised their hands, Ash looked back at Pikachu, "That's right, Pikachu. They won't let anyone take their own pokemon in here."

"Pika…" It said lowering it's ears.

"Don't worry, buddy," Ash said taking off his backpack. "Get in here quick."

Pikachu climbed into Ash's backpack, "Alright everyone. We will hand out the pokeballs and bait now. Also, we will be giving you your locker number and keys for your pokemon and pokeballs."

The employees went around the room handing out the bait and poke balls, Louis walked up to the trio, "Here you go, guys."

"Thanks, Louis." Brock smiled. " So, Ash. Are you going to catch something other than Tauros this time?"

Ash looked at Brock, "What? Of course!" Ash scratched his head. "I think I have enough Tauros back at home."

After Dawn put the large amount of poke balls into her backpack, she looked at Ash and Brock, "Did you guys get bait?"

"Yeah, of course. What's wrong? Did you not get any, Dawn?" Ash asked.

"No, I think Louis forgot. I'll be right back you two."

Dawn walked around each trainer to catch up to Louis, she stepped over a couple of other people sitting on the ground before she bumped into a trainer; dark eyes stared down at Dawn, "Watch where you're going."

It was Paul, Dawn gave him an ugly face before he walked off behind her; she finally caught up to Louis and was now set to find a place to sleep at the valley entrance with Brock and Ash.

When the trio got outside they could see a large amount of trainers already laying out their sleeping bags and setting up campfires; Dawn felt a cool breeze brush through her hair, she gazed at the large valleys and hills, then settled down in a spot Brock and Ash picked out.

"I have some sandwiches made, make sure you both put them into your packs, "Brock said handing his friends the nicely made sandwiches.

Dawn rolled out her sleeping bag and brushed any dirt she saw away, then sat down in front of what was soon to be a fire. Ash had brought back firewood that was laid out near the entrance area for the trainers, he gave Brock half and laid the rest on the ground. Ash looked around the campsite area, there were no safari employees around, he looked down at his backpack, "Okay, Pikachu. You can come out for a little bit now."

"Chu!" It said as it popped out of the bacpack.

Dawn looked up at the sky as the boys finished working on setting up the fire, she could already see the stars coming out; Dawn noticed the brightest one in far off distance above the valleys, she lowered her eyes on the trainers in front of her. A couple were cuddling together underneath a blanket in front of the fire, Dawn smiled; she then noticed the rude purple haired trainer separated from most of the others camping out. He didn't have a fire set up, and was sitting on the grass in the dark by himself; Dawn looked back at her friends and saw Brock and Ash laughing and joking with each other. Even though Dawn didn't like Paul's attitude and the way he treated his pokemon, she began to feel sorry for the trainer. She played with her hair as she continued to stare at the back of Paul, she let out a sigh.

_No one should be alone in a nice place like this, not even him…_

Dawn stood up and caught the attention of Brock and Ash, "Dawn? What are you doing?"

"Um, I'll be right back. I'm just going for a stroll around the campsites and stretch my legs."

Ash nodded at the blue haired girl as she walked off around the other campsites, when she got a few feet from Ash and Brock she looked over her shoulder to check and see if they took their eyes off her, and they did. Dawn pretended to be interested in walking through the other trainers campsites while looking at the dark valleys and forests in the distance; she then turned around and started walking towards Paul, her heart started to beat louder as she neared the boy. She was only a couple steps away from him, Dawn breathed in deeply before taking another step towards Paul.

A twig snapped, and Dawn looked down underneath her foot and saw what she had stepped on was broken in two; when she raised her head back up she saw Paul staring at her. Dawn froze, she couldn't get out any words, "What do you want now?" Paul asked in his emotionless tone.

Dawn twiddled her fingers together, "Um," she began. Normally, Dawn wasn't so shy, so why was she able to not to talk Paul? She didn't even like him, did she?

Paul grew impatient and put his hands behind him and stretched his legs out as he turned his head away from Dawn, "Just leave."

Dawn blinked, then she began to feel more confident after Paul's comment, "Listen, you. I came over here to invite you to our campsite, you can't really enjoy yourself over here alone, can you?"

Paul didn't reply, and only grunted at the girl in response.

Though she was frustrated with him as usual, Dawn wasn't about to give up, "Come on, Paul. You don't have to talk to anybody, it has to be better than sitting here in the dark." She said as she came closer to him, Paul heard the footsteps behind him and looked back at the girl.

"I'm here to catch pokemon, not to hang out with you and your moron friends."

Dawn held her breath, she was about to burst from the anger stored up inside, but she managed to hang in there a little longer in hopes of getting the boy to their campsite. She bent down beside Paul, her blue eyes glistened in the moonlight; Paul took notice and for a slight second, he looked captivated by them. Paul then growled and averted his eyes, Dawn continued looking at him, her face was filled with worry; Dawn leaned forward slightly to get back Paul's attention, "Please, Paul?" She said softly.

It was as if Dawn was having an outer body experience, she was being so patient and nice with the stubborn trainer; she wasn't understanding why, other than she felt as if it was her duty for everyone to enjoy themselves and not be alone.

Dawn looked back at Paul, he was about to open his mouth; Dawn felt excitement come over her as she thought Paul was finally going to agree to come to their campsite.

"What was your name again?"

Dawn's eyes lit on fire and she stood up quickly, that was the last straw, "It's DAWN! If you want to stay here in the dark by yourself, fine. We'll be over here enjoying ourselves!" Dawn shouted, Paul watched as the girl stomped off back toward Ash and Brock, both boys heard the commotion and gave Dawn a questioned looked when she arrived back to camp.

"What was that all about? Were you talking to Paul?"

"I was _trying_ to get him to come over here with us, he's being so stubborn like usual. Why did I even try?" Dawn said sitting down on top of her sleeping bag.

Ash tilted his head, "What are you doing talking to him in the first place anyway?"

"Ash is right, Dawn. I don't think Paul would ever join us in anything, I think you should just let him be."

Dawn let out a sigh as she dragged her knees up to her face and rested on top of them.

_I guess they're right._

The fire crackled as the trio watched the flames dance, Ash heard a noise and looked into it's direction, it was Louis and two other safari employees. "Oh no, Pikachu. I think they're inspecting the campsites, hurry and get back into my backpack."

Without giving a response Pikachu quickly climbed into Ash's backpack, Louis chatted with the campers as he made his way to Ash's group; before he reached their campsite, Louis noticed Paul sitting by himself who was separated from all of the trainers. Ash was about to greet the safari employee, but he walked into the direction of Paul; the purple haired boy heard the footsteps behind him again and assumed it was Dawn, he growled and looked behind him. Paul blinked, "Hey there camper, I see you don't have a fire going."

Paul looked at the dark area, then looked back at Louis, "Sorry, but it gets pretty cold here at night. You'll either have to build a campfire or join up with another group."

"Tch, I'll be fine."

"Sorry, but those are our rules here for the event."

Paul sighed and looked behind Louis, all of the firewood was now taken by the other campers; Paul turned back around and stared down at his feet, knowing what might end up happening.

"Well? What are you planning to do?" Louis asked, looking around the campsites.

"I guess there's no more firewood anywhere, so you'll have to join a group, and I've got just the one for you. Weren't you traveling with them earlier?"

Paul rubbed his forehead in frustration and reluctantly stood up, "Come on, I'll take you to them."

Paul put his hands in his pockets as he followed behind Louis, Ash, Brock and Dawn were relaxing in front of the fire; Dawn was finally getting over Paul's attitude from earlier, until she saw Louis and Paul standing beside her, she looked up.

"Hey guys, I've got an extra camper for you for tonight if you don't mind."

The group stared at Paul, "Paul…?" Ash trailed off.

"Yeah, whatever." Paul replied looking away from the boy."

Go ahead and sit down. So, how are you guys doing? We're just coming by to check on everyone, remember that you can start your safari adventure tomorrow at 7am sharp. Don't forget, alright?"

"We'll remember," Brock replied waving to Louis who began checking around the other campsites.

Paul took out his sleeping bag and laid it furthest from everyone else as possible, he then sat down; there was long and awkward silence between the four of them. Dawn wasn't ready to speak to him after what happened earlier, she made sure not to make eye contact.

Brock cleared his throat, "So, as I was saying. If you breed a…"

Dawn began to zone out by staring into the fire as Brock continued his explantion on pokemon breeding, Paul was doing the same; he didn't want to be around Ash and his friends, and tried drowning them out by staring into the flames. After an hour had gone by, Ash and Brock started yawning; Ash groaned, "What time is it?"

Brock looked at his watch, "10pm now."

Paul looked over at the tired Ash, "I don't know about you guys, but if we have to get up early again I'm going to go to sleep."

Before climbing into his sleeping bag, Ash opened up his backpack, and just like he thought Pikachu was sleeping inside; he didn't want to disturb his partner so he let the yellow mouse be. Brock climbed into his sleeping bag as well, "Dawn? Are you going to go to sleep too?"

Dawn still had her head on her knees with her arms wrapped around them, she looked over at Brock, "Not yet, I got a lot of sleep on the train earlier. I'll be up for a little while longer."

"Alright, make sure not to stay up too late though. Goodnight, Dawn."

"Goodnight, Ash. Goodnight, Brock."

Brock looked over at Paul, he had his arms crossed and was looking away from the group, "Goodnight, Paul."

"Hmph," he replied.

Dawn and Paul never spoke a word to each other for the next hour, but they both remained awake.

_Why hasn't he gone to sleep yet? What's the point of staying up if you aren't doing anything? Ugh, what am I doing up anyway…_"

You should listen to your friend and go to sleep," Paul said breaking the silence.

"I don't have to listen to you."

"Not me, your friend."

Dawn continued to stare at the fire, "Why aren't you sleeping yet? Aren't you supposed to be capturing the so called strongest pokemon here in the zone?"

"I'll be doing that, yeah. Though it really is none of your business."

Dawn narrowed her eyes and laid her hands on the ground to get closer to Paul, "Why are you so mean!?" She whispered.

"Why are you so annoying?"

The two trainers stared at each other, the moonlight made Dawn's eyes glisten again; Paul backed off and looked away. Dawn huffed and puffed as she climbed into her sleeping bag and pulled the top layer over her as far as she could, Paul leaned back and looked up at the sky a little bit longer before he too climbed into his sleeping bag.

Paul awoke in the middle of the night, he was shivering from the cold crisp air; Louis was right, but it was nothing the purple haired trainer couldn't handle. Before Paul pulled his sleeping bag further over himself he heard faint whimpering, he thought it might have been a pokemon, but when he sat up from his sleeping bag he noticed the noises were coming from Dawn.

The girl was shivering furiously and whimpering in her sleep, Paul watched the freezing girl in her sleep before Ash gained his attention by shouting, "Pokeball, go!" in his sleep.

Paul was startled from the sleep talking trainer, Ash turned over in his sleep and Paul put his eyes back on Dawn; she was still shivering. Paul watched for a few more minutes before choosing to lay back down in his sleeping bag, "Dumb girl," he mumbled to himself.

It was now morning, Dawn turned over in her sleeping bag, "Oh, Dawwwn!" a voice sang to her.

Dawn slowly opened her eyes, _who is that?_

Ash was in front of Dawn's face, he was smiling and abnormally perky for this hour; Dawn groaned and pulled the top layer over her head. She was ready to fall back asleep until she sprang up from the sound of a microphone, "Attention trainers! You have 15 more minutes to prepare yourselves!"

Dawn's heart was beating fast, she looked around the campsite and saw Brock and Ash were already packed up and ready to go; Dawn rubbed her eyes and climbed out of her sleeping bag, she slowly folded it back up and put it into her backpack. After zipping it up and setting the bag on her shoulders, Dawn began to fix her hair as she looked around for Paul.

_He can't still be here._

When Dawn fully turned around she saw the cold hearted pokemon trainer standing with his back towards her and her friends with hands in his pockets, she scoffed, "You're still here, huh?"

Paul looked over his shoulder, "And where am I and the rest of the pokemon trainers supposed to go right now?"

Dawn shot Paul a dirty look, Ash had been bouncing up and down and pacing back and forth around the campsite; Brock walked up to Dawn who just finished fixing her hair, "I wonder why Ash is so high strung this morning."

Paul looked back at the group again, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Paul caught Ash's attention and he looked over at the boy, "Huh? What do you mean, Paul?"

"You were talking in your sleep last night, moron. Something about capturing pokemon?"

Brock and Dawn looked over at Ash, "Really? So that must have been what I heard last night," Brock said. "I knew I heard something, I thought I was dreaming actually."

Paul closed his eyes and smirked, "Yeah, well. Trainers who can't capture good pokemon in real life can only capture them in their dreams."

Ash was fuming, Brock held him from charging at the trainer, "Hey, settle down, Ash."

"Five minutes to the start of the event! Trainers, ready yourselves!"

Paul walked ahead and lined up with the other trainers, it looked as if a race was about to start; Dawn and the others followed, she ended up being two trainers separated from Paul. She looked over at him, Paul had a grin on his face and pokeball in hand, he never noticed Dawn's gaze; the blue haired girl went back to looking ahead of her.

The sun beamed down on the valleys and hills, it looked beautiful; Dawn couldn't wait to start, she was almost getting as excited as Ash was.

"Are you ready, Pikachu?" Ash whispered.

"Pika-pi," the mouse pokemon replied from his backpack.

Louis stood in front of the long line, "Trainers, ready! Set! And, go!"

With the sound of a gunshot all of the trainers bolted from their starting area and began heading to the first valley, others headed towards the forests and lakes.

Brock called out to Ash, "Ash, which way do you want to go?"

Ash thought to himself while running, and pointed towards the valley, "That way! Dawn? Are you coming?"

Dawn was a little behind the others, but she kept at a steady pace, "Yes! I'm right behind you guys!"

Paul was already far ahead with the other good runners, he appeared to be heading into the first valley's direction; Dawn rolled her eyes as she thought she would have been rid of him by now.

Ash sprinted forward and got ahead of Brock, "Come on you guys!" he called waving to his friends. The three trainers and the many others that followed behind ran off into the distance; the sun was shining brightly, and the adventure had just begun.

**Hmm, 2:20 am, I guess that means it's bed time now XD**


	3. Team Rocket Chaos

**Thanks for the reviews so far, enjoy chapter 3 :)**

Kanto Safari

Chapter 3 - "Team Rocket Chaos"

After most of the trainers had separated into their own direction, the trio reached the beginning of the valley; Ash bent down trying to catch his breath, he then looked ahead of him. Directly ahead of their group was a mountain, "Up there," Ash pointed.

Dawn put her hand above her eyes to look into the distance, the sun shined down on the trees covering the mountain; she smiled, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"For Ash to catch his breath."

Ash waved his hand in the air at Brock and stood upright again, "No, no. I'm fine, Brock. Let's go! Pikachu, you can come out now."

"Pi? Pi-pikachu!" the little mouse climbed out of Ash's backpack and onto it's place on Ash's shoulder.

Dawn brushed the hair out of her face as a strong wind began to blow, there were scattered trees around the valley; as the group passed underneath one Dawn looked up, "Do any of these trees have fruit on them?"

Ash looked back at Dawn who was still staring upward, "No, but there are bushes with berries along the mountain up ahead, Dawn."

Dawn didn't respond, she took her eyes off of the tree and ran a couple steps to catch up to the boys.

"Hey, look!" Brock pointed out into the west and the other two looked into the his direction, two pokemon trainers were surrounding a Nidorino.

Dawn's eyes lit up, "Hey! What's that?" she pulled out her pokedex and pointed it toward the pokemon.

"Nidorino, the poison pokemon. This aggressive pokemon is quick to attack, the horn on it's head secretes a powerful venom."

Dawn watched as one of the trainers threw a poke ball at it, the ball tumbled back and forth for a bit until it came to a stop.

"Ah, looks like they caught it."

"Yeah, well, let's go catch our own! Come on!" Ash said running ahead.

The trio reached another tree, there were bushes surrounding the bottom; Dawn was the last to walk by, but stopped when she heard a rustling sound. She turned around quickly and called Brock and Ash over, "Dawn, what is it?"

"The bushes there," she pointed.

The bushes continued to move, and suddenly a Doduo stepped out from them; Dawn's eyes sparkled.

"How cute!"

"Hey, it's a Doduo," Ash said remembering his old visit from the safari zone.

"A Doduo?" Dawn said looking at the Kanto trainer.

"Yeah, it's pretty fast." Brock said putting his hands on his hips.

"It's also cute! Let me catch it!"

Brock and Ash took a few steps back, Dawn held out her hand, "Hey there, little guy."

Dawn grabbed a poke ball and was ready to capture the bird pokemon, but it immediately ran off; the Doduo made it's way through Dawn's legs and in between Ash and Brock; Dawn was speechless."

W-wait!"

"That was weird, what was that all-"

Brock was cut held her hand in front of the two boys, "Do you guys hear that?"

Everyone remained silent to listen to the noise Dawn was trying to make out, there was heavy rumbling; before Dawn opened her mouth Ash pointed into the distance where the trio had came from, "Tauros!"

Brock and Dawn's eyes widened, stampeding down the grassy field towards them was a large herd of Tauros; Dawn ran behind the boys.

"Run!" Brock yelled.

Though the herd was far away when the trainers noticed it, the Tauros were now getting closer and closer. Up in the tree where the three had just been standing underneath, a figure sitting on the branches leaning against the tree trunk set down their binoculars, it was Paul.

He watched as Ash, Brock and Dawn tried getting away from the herd of stampeding Tauros, he raised his binoculars up to his face again; Brock got an idea, he halted at the next tree.

"Quick, up here!"

"What!?" Dawn yelled.

"Come on, Dawn!" Brock held out his hands for Ash and Dawn to step onto to get themselves up into the tree before the Tauros reached them.

Dawn didn't hesitate any longer, she stepped up onto Brock's hands quickly and climbed up the tree; Ash was next to follow, and afterwards the two pulled Brock up just in time before the stampeding herd ran by them.

The tree shook and the ground roared like thunder, Dawn covered her ears; Brock and Ash held their breath. After a few minutes, the last couple Tauros ran by and there was a large line of dust from where the herd had just been; Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is everyone okay?" asked Brock.

Ash and Dawn both nodded, "We sure like to cut it close," Dawn said taking a few twigs out of her hair. After the trio checked to see if all of the Tauros had really gone, they all jumped down; Brock looked at Ash, " Didn't want to catch anymore Tauros, Ash?"

Dawn giggled lightly and Ash gave Brock a dirty look, they all began heading toward the mountain again.

Back at the previous tree, Paul lowered his binoculars, "Tch, morons."

Paul put them away into his backpack and hopped down from the tree, he began heading toward the mountain to where he had seen a group of Kangaskhan.

Pidgey's and Pidgeotto's flew overhead of the trio, the sun was shining more brightly now, and it was starting to get hot.

"Phew," Dawn said flapping her hand in her face to cool off.

Pikachu had it's mouth open and ear's lowered, "Pi…ka.."

"I know, Pikachu. It's getting hot." Ash took out his water bottle and sprayed the yellow mouse.

"Do you guys think we should take a rest and find some shade somewhere?"

Dawn dropped her hand, "No way, we'll be fine. We just need a little water and we'll at the bottom of that mountain in no time."

Brock admired Dawn's determination, and the three continued on through the heat; further back behind them, Paul was starting to feel the heat. He had already taken his jacket off and was spraying water over his face. Paul had also already captured a Nidoran, but he refused to keep it when he checked the stats.

After a couple hours the group had finally reached the bottom of the mountain, there were a large herd of Ryhorn surrounding it; Brock made sure to capture one.

"Pokeball, go!"

Ash went onto another side of the group of Ryhorn, he threw some bait, then tossed his poke ball at a close Ryhorn. Both pokeballs stopped rolling, and Ash and Brock quickly grabbed their pokemon and smiled at each other. Dawn was standing back watching, she enjoyed seeing new pokemon, but she wanted to capture something that appealed to her taste more.

"That Doduo would have been nice…" Dawn said kicking her foot in the dirt back and forth.

Just then, she heard the same rustling sound behind her, Dawn quickly turned around.

_It's back!_

Dawn blinked when she saw the purple haired trainer making his way along the trail up the mountain, Brock and Ash came back and saw Dawn was making a face; they both realized she was staring at Paul who was already far ahead up the mountain trail.

Ash narrowed his eyes and clenched a fist, "Paul…"

Paul was aware the group was down below, but didn't bother to look; he was making his way toward the Kangashkan he had seen earlier.

"I'm not following him."

"Come on, Ash. We've made it this far already, this is the way to go."

Dawn studied Paul's new look with his dark blue t-shirt, it was the first time she didn't the boy with his jacket on.

"Dawn, are you coming?"

Dawn blinked again, "Oh, yeah. Right behind you guys."

Back at the safari zone building, two women came barreling through the door and ran straight towards Louis who was busy cleaning up, "We've got a serious problem!"

Louis gave the women a questioned look, "Officer Jenny? Nurse Joy? What are you two doing here?"

"The police station just received news that Team Rocket was in the area, they're bringing in an infected Kangaskhan with the pokerus virus. If we don't stop them, the entire safari zone will become infected!"

"What?"

Nurse Joy stepped forward, "Your safari visitors are in danger, we'll need to administer the vaccine to the infected pokemon. Please, you need to get all of the trainers out of the zone."

"Pokerus? Team Rocket? I've heard of Team Rocket, and the members I've seen didn't seem to be that threatening. You know, the blue haired guy, the angry woman and the talking cat. Is it really them who is behind this?"

Officer Jenny paused for a moment, "Giovanni."

Dawn made her way around the large rocks and holes that laid along the trail, Ash had already tripped twice; Brock continued to scan the mountain top up ahead as the three walked along the curvy trail.

"I-I think I see Kangaskhan up there!"

"Really!? I never caught one of those the last time I was here, where are you looking, Brock?"

"Kangaskhan?" Dawn asked.

Nurse Joy held her hand to her face and looked out to the valleys and hills, Officer Jenny took a step closer to Louis.

"You need to get all of your employee's and rescue vehicles out there as soon as possible, the pokerus spreads quickly through contact. It doubles the pokemon's strength and sends them into a rage, I've got backup coming already, and the pokemon center is gathering all of the vaccines that will be needed to cure the infected."

Louis didn't waste any more time, he nodded and ran off to collect his equipment and let the rest of his employees know they were going to have get the trainers to evacuate the safari zone.

Nurse Joy took a step outside, she looked at the sky, clouds were beginning to form over the valley; she kept a worried expression her face, she then looked back at Officer Jenny.

"What do you think the idea is behind Team Rocket's plan this time?"

"We've got word that Giovanni has begun to lose his mind, with the rise of Team Galactic, all Giovanni wants to see now is chaos. But he also wants to collect as many strong and powerful pokemon as he can, with that pokerus virus and the amount of pokemon in the zone, Team Rocket will become more powerful than they have ever been."

Hovering over the safari valley was a Meowth balloon, the cage that held the infected Kanghaskan hung below as Team Rocket made their way to the herd of kangaroo pokemon.

"This better work, maybe we'll get paid for once." James said leaning over the edge.

"Of course it will work! Giovanni planned it himself, Team Rocket will rise again!" Jesse shouted holding her fist into the air.

"Yeah, yeah you two. We're almost there, then the fireworks will begin." Meowth rubbed his paws together.

Coming from the opposite direction of Ash, Brock and Dawn, Team Rocket continued to make their way to the herd. When they reached their drop off point, they hovered above and dropped the infected Kangashkan into the group of other pokemon.

"There we go, now-"

"Hmm?" Jesse gave Meowth a questioned look.

"The gas, the fire! It's gone out!"James and Jesse looked above them, "What!? What do you mean it's gone out!"

The balloon started to fall quickly to the ground, they were falling fast down towards the bottom of a waterfall.

"Meowth! You idiot, you didn't use enough gas!" Jesse hissed.

"I thought I put enough in!"

Team Rocket fell down towards bottom of the rushing waterfall and landed with a loud crash; Ash, Brock and Dawn looked into the sky, "What was that?"

Up ahead, Paul also stopped a moment to try listen to what he had just heard; more clouds covered the safari zone and Paul put his jacket back on.

The infected Khangaskan made it's way into the herd, and one by one each pokemon became infected. Ash, Dawn and Brock finally made it to a clearing where the Kanghaskan were eating the grass, none of them noticing that the further ones in the back were fighting each other.

"Khangaskan!" Ash shouted.

"Shh, Ash. You don't want to scare them away."

Brock said putting his hand in front of bent down behind the bushes with the boys, they were far up the mountain, and Dawn could hear the sounds of rushing water further up.

"Alright, I'm going to catch it." Ash grabbed bait and a poke ball, he walked slowly crept forward to the closest Khangaskan.

"Be careful, Ash." Dawn whispered.

Ash grinned, Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder and stood on it's two feet with ears perked up, "Alright, pokeball! Go…?"

Ash watched as a poke ball flew from another direction and at the Khangaskan he was about to capture, Ash looked down at his hand; he still had his poke ball, so who did the other one belong to?

Ash gritted his teeth when he saw Paul step out from a pair of bushes, "Paul! That was my pokemon to catch!"

Paul laughed to himself as he picked up the poke ball, "Looks like it's mine now."

"Yeah, we'll see about that." Ash muttered as he crossed his arms, he was waiting for Paul to release it after looking over it's stats.

Brock and Dawn came up to Ash, "Come on, Ash. Let's find another area to catch Kangaskhan."

As the trio began to walk away, Paul's pokeball began to shake, it popped open and Paul's newly caught Khangaskan appeared in front of him roaring. Paul took a step back, the other three quickly looked over into Paul's direction; the purple haired trainer ducked as the rampaging Kangaskhan swung at him as he ran over to the other group.

"That Khangaskan is crazy, it shouldn't be acting like that." Paul stated.

Dawn looked at Brock and Ash, "Maybe we should get out here for now, something feels wrong about this place."

The other members of the herd began to roar and attack each other, a few others set their eyes on the trainers, Pikachu ran in front of Ash, "Pika pika!"

"No, Pikachu. Those Khangaskan are dangerous, come back here!"

Pikachu looked back at it's partner, "Pi?"

A rampaging Khangaskan then charged towards the yellow mouse, "Pikachu, look out!" Ash shouted as he scooped Pikachu up in time.

Paul wasn't about to stay there any longer, he turned around and was about to head back down the path to the bottom of the mountain, but it was blocked off by another Kangaskhan. Paul's feet skidded on the ground as he came to a halt, he then took a few steps back before running to Ash's group again.

Brock had watched Paul try to make an escape, now they only had one choice, "Let's get out here! This way!" Brock said as began running towards the path leading up the mountain.

Dawn was second to follow with Paul right behind, Dawn watched as Paul sprinted by her; Ash ran after his friends but felt something grab onto his collar, he held Pikachu tight as he heard loud growling coming from behind him.

Ash turned his head slightly and saw a large Kangaskhan clamping down onto his collar, Ash yelled; Dawn and Brock looked back, "Ash!"

Paul ended up getting ahead of Brock, but looked back when he heard the boy yell; Ash was holding onto Pikachu tight, the Khangaskan began to thrash him from side to side, Ash kept his eyes shut and held his partner against him as he was thrown from left to right. Another Kangaskhan charged and head butted the one tossing Ash around, the impact caused the Kangaskhan to let go of it's grip and Ash and Pikachu dropped to the ground. Without hesitating, Ash darted towards the path and up into the direction where Brock and Dawn were.

"Keep running!" he shouted.

Two Kanghaskan began to chase after the trainers up the mountain, Dawn felt as if her legs were about to give out; the uphill climb was becoming more difficult. Dawn watched as Paul still continued at a steady pace up the path, she was almost out of breath now.

_How can he keep running like that?_

The four trainers came up to an even level on the mountain and were faced with a rushing river, the water was heading toward a waterfall which dropped into a lake; there were large rocks sticking out of the river, and with no other choice of getting across with the wild pokemon after them, Paul and the others knew that they were going to have to cross. Brock glanced at Ash and Dawn, "We don't… have a choice here."

Everyone was out breath, and Brock was first to cross climbing onto the rocks and holding onto them tight while the rushing water crashed into him. After Ash had made sure Pikachu was safe in his backpack, he was second to cross; after almost slipping he made sure grip was tight on the rocks.

Paul was securing his backpack while Dawn did the same beside him, after finally gulping down her fear she was ready to cross; just then one of the Kangaskhan had reached the river and was charging straight towards Dawn. She heard the roars from pokemon stampeding behind her and bent down and screamed, the high pitched voice echoed through the trees and over the sounds of the crashing river, it then went straight down into Paul's heart; Brock and Ash looked back at them.

Quickly, Paul looked along the ground and found a large fallen branch; he picked it up and as the Khangaskan came towards Dawn, Paul charged at it with the branch and hit the pokemon in the stomache. It took a step back and gave a low growl, it was dazed for a moment; Paul turned around and looked down at the frightened girl, Dawn looked up when she heard the roaring stop. Paul bent down and grabbed her by the arm, then shoved her towards the river bank, "What are you waiting for? Go!" he growled.

Dawn didn't have time to take in Paul's good deed, and she immediately hurled herself onto the first rock; the water crashed over her, but she kept a tight grip while holding onto her breath. When Dawn reached the second rock, Paul climbed onto the first one, the water was cold, but the trainers ignored it with the amount of adrenaline now pumping through their systems.

The second Kangaskhan finally reached the top, but neither of the two were brave enough to enter the water; everyone flinched when the roar's were heard overtop of the rushing water. Dawn reached the third rock with Paul following behind, everything was slippery and everyone hung onto the rocks with their lives on the line. Dawn had to stop moving to take a moment to breathe, she was shaking all over and laid her head against the rock to gather herself; Paul looked ahead at the blue haired girl who had come to a stop.

"Hey, don't stop! Keep going!" Paul shouted towards Dawn.

Dawn gripped the rock tight, she didn't want to let go, she didn't want to continue. She then felt someone come up beside her, it was Paul; she knew Paul wanted to continue on to the next rock and she was holding him back. The ugly faces Dawn had been giving him all day was changed to a fearful expression, she looked up at Paul; he was about to give the girl another one of his rude comments, but something caused him to hold it back. The look of fear in her blue eyes made Paul swallow down his words, Paul's mind began racing for something encouraging to say; he then shook his head and growled to himself, "Look, the mind breaks down before the body, you need to keep pushing yourself or we'll be stuck on this rock forever."

Though the tone was still a cold one, Dawn realized Paul wasn't trying to be mean; he really did want the both of them to make it across safely. Dawn tried to gather all of the courage inside of her, she closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again to prepare herself to grab onto the next rock. Before Dawn could stretch out her arm, a large wave of water came crashing down on the both of them; Dawn held on tight, but watched in slow motion while Paul was swept away from the rock.

Instantly, Dawn stuck out her hand grabbed onto Paul's; she held on tight, Paul was going up and down over the water with more waves crashing into him. He looked down and could see the bottom of the river, and Dawn's boots in front of him. The strength of the water and Paul's weight added together caused Dawn's free hand to slowly slide down the slippery rock; Brock and Ash were now standing on the other side of the river. Brock tried to hold Ash back from going back into the water, "Dawn!"

"Ash, no! There isn't anything we can do, if we go back in we'll get swept away too!"

"They aren't going to make it, though!"

"Pii!"

"Ash, stop!"

When another wave of water came crashing down on Dawn she was forced off of the rock and into the water, Dawn was being dragged down under the water and thrown back up again as she and Paul both headed to the water rushing off of the waterfall

Dawn felt Paul's hand squeeze her's tight, she wasn't about to let go either; Brock and Ash paced back and forth as they shouted to Dawn and Paul who were now about to be thrown off of the waterfall.

Dawn and Paul swirled in circles as they held onto each other, the last thing Dawn was able to see was Paul's eyes shut tight as they headed over the waterfall. Everything became white, then went into darkness.

_No…_

Ash ran towards the closest part of the falls he could reach, "Dawn!"


	4. Getting Closer To You

**I'm really enjoying writing this story, I'm updating almost every day. Again, thanks for the reviews! Dreamin'Ferno, I just had to chuckle at your comment.**

I hope you all enjoy the chapter, it was a lot of fun to write.

Kanto Safari

Chapter 4 - "Getting Closer To You"

Ash stretched out his hand facing the waterfall drop off, "They're… they're really gone."

The sounds of the rushing water covered the long silence between Brock and Ash, Brock walked up and put a hand on Ash's shoulder, "We need to stay calm and find a way down, they're both strong. You know that, Ash. So let's go help them."

Ash stared at the waterfall for a few seconds longer, then nodded and followed Brock in search for a way down.

***

An announcement coming from the speakers scattered across the zone broke the silence of the valley, "Attention trainers in the safari zone, we are now evacuating everyone out of the area. Please hurry to the closest exit, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy will be scouting the areas by air with a rescue team on the ground. This is an emergency, all trainers must evacuate the safari zone immediately. I repeat, all trainers must evacuate the safari zone."

The announcements went on for thirty minutes, Dawn was laying unconscious on the lake shore; the rushing water could still be heard further away. After the announcements had ceased, a pidgey flew down and started pecking at her scarf. It attempted to fly away with it, but wouldn't unravel; Dawn began to stir, she felt sore all over and could feel her clothes were wet.

Dawn was laying on her back with arms stretched out to each side, when she slowly opened her eyes she coughed twice before shutting them again.

_What happened…_

Dawn's head was pounding and her ears felt like they were plugged with water, she attempted to open her eyes a second time; when she could see her surroundings and the cloudy sky, Dawn turned her head towards the Pidgey, the movement caused the little bird to fly away. Dawn faced her head back toward to the sky, the clouds were blocking the sun and she began to feel chilly with her soaked clothes.

Previous events raced through Dawn's mind, she didn't blink for a few seconds when she remembered her and Paul getting dragged underwater and sent over the waterfall.

"Paul!"

She sat up quickly, "Paul, where is he?"

Dawn looked down at herself, the dirt had now dried on her skin and was all over her clothes; she brushed the wet pieces of hair out her face and tried to scrub off the dirt off of her skin.

Before she stood up, Dawn put her hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. Her headache felt like it was getting worse, and was beginning to makeg her feel dizzy; Dawn attempted to stand anyway, her feet were wobbly and she kept her arms stretched out for balance. When Dawn finally had enough strength to move around, her eyes began scanning the lake and the shore around her; she began to panic again when she saw no sign of Paul.

Dawn looked over to the waterfall, fear invaded her heart when she thought of the her and Paul being dragged off of it; she let out a sigh, she had to find Paul.

Scanning the lake a second time, Dawn saw a floating figure; she squinted her eyes to see whether or not it was just a floating log. When Dawn got a better look, she realized that it was no log, floating in the middle of the lake with his head facing upward out of the water was Paul.

"Oh my gosh, Paul! Paul!"

_What am I going to do, he's so far out._

Dawn rushed to the shallow water and set one foot in, she immediately took it out as memories from the incident an a half hour earlier flashed back into her mind; she didn't want to go back into the water. Paul needed help, Dawn's heart began beating faster; she looked down at the water, then back at Paul.

_I have to get to him, I have to…_

Dawn clenched her fists and took in a deep breath, she then took a few steps back and then jumped into the water. Her body was still sore, and her headache wasn't about to go away, but she continued to make her to way toward the trainer. Dawn spat out any water that got into her mouth as one arm after the other rose over her and landed in the water, she was getting closer to him.

"Paul!" she called out.

Dawn was breathing heavily when she reached the boy, she wrapped one arm around his chest and began paddling with her free arm back to shore; Paul wasn't moving, Dawn wanted to get back to land as fast as possible. She pushed the bad thoughts out of her mind and kept her eyes on the shore, Dawn felt as if she wasn't able to paddle anymore; Paul's weight and only swimming with one hand made it more difficult and slow to get back.

Dawn breathed in and out deeply, her face was turning red and her head was still throbbing, but she pressed on. After what had seemed to be ages, Dawn finally reached the shallow water, she took a moment to catch her breath before standing up; she then pulled Paul onto land and laid him down on his back.

_Paul…_

Dawn's hands were shaking, she looked down at Paul as the water dripped off of her; Paul wasn't breathing.

Dawn took in a couple more breathes before putting her hands over Paul's chest, she pressed down three times then looked over his face; she was nervous, but she knew she had to help him before it was too late.

Dawn pinched Paul's nose and put her mouth over his, she blew in; Dawn then pushed her hands down onto his chest again, and for a second time put her lips onto Paul's. When she finished after the third attempt, she sat for a moment.

"Paul…" she said, her voice trembling.

Dawn could only hear herself breathing, she then held her breath when she saw Paul cough up a hanful of water; she gasped, Paul turned over onto his hands and continued coughing. He began taking in deep breaths and had his head lowered toward the ground, when Paul realized where he was, he looked over at Dawn; her face was still red. Paul's purple hair covered his face, his mouth was hanging open as he tried taking in as much air as possible; Dawn was relieved to see that Paul was alright, but she began to feel dizzy.

She had pushed herself too hard, her surroundings began to spin and her head continued to throb; Dawn tried to keep her eyes on Paul, he was watching as the girl began to sway from side to side.

"Are… are you alright?" she asked.

Paul's expression was cold, but he nodded; after seeing Paul's response, Dawn fell forward and passed out on the shore.

***

"There's no way down from here, Brock!"

Brock looked down the steep cliff, "We'll have to turn back again."

"Turn back? Didn't you hear the announcement? We have to get out of here fast, but I'm not going to leave without Dawn."

"Ash, we have to turn back. We can't go down this way."

"Pi-pikachu!"

"Huh? What is it, Pikachu?"

A helicopter was seen flying in the distances toward Ash and Brock on the mountain, "That might be Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy."

Brock and Ash watched the helicopter fly over them, Ash waved his hands in the air trying to get the people in the copter's attention.

"Hey! Over here!"

Up in the sky, Officer Jenny was looking over the map with Nurse Joy sitting across from her; the pink haired woman then pointed down towards Ash and Brock.

"Look!"

Officer Jenny took her eyes off of the map and looked down, she gasped, "There's two trainers down there! We need to find a safe place to land."

The pilot kept his focus in front of him but nodded in response to Officer Jenny; Nurse Joy continued to look over the mountain side, "Look, there's more Kangaskhan down there."

Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy watched the rampaging Kangaskhan tear down nearby trees, Officer Jenny looked over at Nurse Joy, "Once we get the trainers out of here we'll be able to administer the vaccine to the infected."

Nurse Joy nodded, she had been worried since they arrived at the Kanto Safari building; the helicopter circled around Ash and Brock twice, there was no safe surface to land on. After the helicopter finished it's second time circling Ash and Brock decided to follow it; as the helicopter flew off, the two boys began running after it, "We need to catch that helicopter!"

***

Darkness, it was all Dawn could see; for the second time that day she found herself slowly awaking from unconciousness. Her head wasn't throbbing as much, and the dizziness had seemed to pass; but Dawn still felt herself moving. Her eyes were squinted as she opened them, she heard rocks knocking together and twigs breaking, it felt as if she was walking, only her legs weren't moving. Dawn opened her eyes more, her head was leaning against something soft, and purple; Dawn groaned lightly and looked down, blue shoes were stepping in front of the other.

_Wha… what's going on._

Dawn looked to side, she was up close near Paul's face who's attention was on the road ahead; Dawn looked down again, she saw her legs were being held up by Paul's arms. In one arm Paul was carrying their two wet backpacks, Dawn's arms were slung over Paul's shoulders; when she realized it was him, she looked at him again. Paul felt Dawn move around, and when he turned slightly towards her their eyes met, Dawn's cheeks went red and she looked away.

"Awake, I see."

Dawn took her one hand and rubbed her forehead, there were a million questions she could ask him, but Paul spoke up first."You passed out before I could say anything."Dawn remembered falling forward onto the shore, she felt a little embarrassed; she looked around the area Paul had taken her to, when she looked behind her she could see the lake far back from where they had been. They were now in the forest, "I… I didn't think you were-"

"I'm fine," Paul interrupted.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm taking you back to your friends, then I'm going to continue traveling through here."

"I hope they're alright…" Dawn said, feeling worried.

There was silence before she spoke up again, "Why don't you just come with us?"

Paul continued to look in front of him, "You're all too slow, and I never said I liked you _or_ your friends to join your little group."

Dawn gave Paul a low growl, "Put me down."Paul stopped and let go of Dawn, she slid off of him and rubbed her arms; Paul then started walking again, Dawn blinked, "Hey, wait!"

_He doesn't even ask if I'm okay, or even thank me for saving him earlier?_

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Paul stopped and laid his hand on a tree trunk and looked around, then continued on, "I'm just guessing."

"Guessing?" Dawn walked briskly. "How are we supposed to get out of here?"

"There was no way of getting back up that waterfall, I'm going to take the long way around."

Dawn slowed down every few seconds, then sped up again to try to catch up to Paul; she knew she wouldn't be successful trying to find her way out of here without Paul, so Dawn decided to keep quiet and stay close to him.

Dawn took her hat off and ringed the water out of it, Paul watched as he kept his hands in his pockets; when Dawn put it back on she looked up at Paul, "Thanks, for um… caring enough to carry me with you."

Dawn said shying away from Paul, she rubbed her arm up and down waiting for a response.

"Yeah, whatever."

Dawn sighed, and she just rubbed her forehead again; Paul noticed this time, "What's wrong?" he asked in his careless tone.

Dawn winced as it seemed the pain was starting to come back, "Nothing, my head has just been bothering me."

Paul reached into Dawn's backpack then tossed her her water bottle, then he tossed her the backpack; Dawn caught both, and after she put her pack on she took a long drink of water.

"That's better now," she said.

It was now into the evening and Paul and Dawn had been slowly making their way through the forest, somehow, without saying almost nothing to each other. In his own subtle ways, Paul had been showing that he does care, for Dawn, at least. The trainer had not said a thank you to the girl yet, and Dawn remained walking beside Paul with her arms crossed. The waterfall incident seemed almost too dramatic to bring up between the both of them, "By the way," Paul began, breaking the silence.

"While you laid flat on your face, I saw Team Rocket's Meowth balloon floating in the water, so keep your eyes open."

Dawn started to worry again.

_Team Rocket? But we don't even have any pokemon to fight against them with._

Paul and Dawn came to a clearing with a creek going across it, Paul walked over and bent down to splash water onto his face. He always kept to himself, who knew what Paul was always thinking, or how he really felt about anything. Dawn watched as the trainer stood up, he might have even been injured and Dawn wouldn't have noticed it.

"Well, are you coming?"

Dawn ran up to catch Paul, he turned around was about to open his mouth until he saw Dawn's foot hit a rock; she fell forward slamming into Paul, the two trainers fell on the ground with Dawn lying overtop of him.

Paul had his eyes closed while he rubbed the back of his head, when he opened them he saw Dawn looking down at him; Paul didn't move for a few seconds and continued to look back into her eyes.

They then narrowed, "You klutz, get off."

Paul pulled himself up as Dawn rolled off of him, she sat there laying on her knees looking up at him, Paul was now dusting himself off. Dawn felt embarrassed, "Sorry, I… I-"

"Can't keep your balance? I noticed." Paul said sternly as he walked off.

Dawn kicked the dirt in frustration before she stood back up, this time walking at a slower pace behind Paul.

***

"We've been walking too long, can we take a break?" James asked.

"No way! We're getting' outta here before the rest of the pokemon start rampaging through here."

"We still need to let Giovanni know when the job is done, so he can send more members with master balls to capture these crazy pokemon."

***

Paul was now far ahead of Dawn, "Slow down!"

Surprisingly, Paul stopped and waited for the girl; this was unusual, Paul listened to her?

When Dawn finally caught up to him, she noticed a couple twigs in his hair; she reached her arm out, but stopped when Paul immediately glared at her.

"What are you doing?"

Dawn paused for a moment, "Um, you've got some twigs in your hair."

"Where…"

"Just hold on, I can get them out for you."

And with that, Dawn place her hand on Paul's hair and pulled out the two twigs that were tangled in it; Paul had his eyes closed as Dawn moved her hand through his hair. She felt frustrated with him still, but was relieved and surprised that he was being so patient with her.

"There, it's all gone." Dawn said tossing the twigs to the ground.

Paul's eyes remained closed, he seemed to be in a dream state; Dawn blinked as she looked at the boy, "Paul?"

Paul opened his eyes, he felt around his hair to where Dawn's hand had just been; he then lowered his hand back down.

"Come on."

Dawn looked up at the sky, the sun had already began to set, she didn't want to be in the forest at night with the pokemon she had run into earlier. She tried to keep her mind off of it, but the light disappearing made it almost impossible to forget the incident from earlier in the day; Dawn could hear unusual pokemon sounds and howls echo through the woods, she kept close to Paul.

"How long do you think it will take for us to get out of this place and get to Ash and Brock?"

"Dunno." Paul stopped, Dawn looked curiously at him.

"What is it?"

Paul kept quiet, there were people talking up further ahead, "Paul?" Dawn whispered.

"Shh."

In the distance, Jesse, Meowth and James were squabbling where to sleep, "If we keep walkin' we can find a better place to sleep."

"No way, my feet hurt and I'm tired. I don't want to walk anymore!" James cried.

"Just pick somewhere so we can lay down!" Jessed snapped at her partners.

"Fine, we'll have it James' way, we'll stay here for tonight."

Paul looked back at Dawn, "Team Rocket is up ahead."

"What do we do?"

"Nothing, we'll stay here for tonight and meet up with your friends tomorrow."

Dawn wanted to get back to Ash and Brock as soon as possible, but she couldn't go against Paul over it right now. She was tired, and all she really wanted to do was rest; it had been a long day.

Dawn watched as Paul walked away from the area, "Where are you going?"

"Going back further, I'm not wanting to get any closer to Team Rocket tonight."

When Paul reached a smooth place on the ground further back, Dawn placed her backpack down along with Paul; they both took out their sleeping bags. Paul unzipped his completely and laid it on the ground, he then went to go set up a fire; Paul gathered kindling and two rocks. Dawn was shaking her sleeping bag, she forgot that it was going to be wet from earlier; after a few minutes of striking the rocks together, Paul was successful and a small fire began to crackle and spread across the kindling.

Paul sat back onto his laid out sleeping bag and leaned up against a tree, he was exhausted from today; Dawn unzipped her sleeping bag completely as well, she then sat down next to Paul.

He raised an eyebrow, "What are you doing?"

"Listen, mister. Hate me all you want, call me names all day tomorrow. But I'm sleeping here tonight, our sleeping bags are both wet and it'd be bad for the both us if we slept alone with the cold weather."

Dawn laid her sleeping bag, now blanket, over her and Paul; Dawn was sitting right next to him.

"Get on your own side," he spat.

"I am on my own side," Dawn said lifting her nose up into the air.

She wasn't going to put up with Paul's attitude tonight, and Paul was ready to give in after their long day.

"Stay there, then."

Dawn wanted to leave the topic she was about to bring up alone, but she had to mention it, "I saved your life twice today, you can't say that to many people. Do you how rude you've been? You haven't even thanked me." Dawn said crossing her arms, looking away from him.

Even if Paul had a sour attitude most of the time, and hit Dawn and her friends with rude comments, he wouldn't be here doing that without her; those words from her sank down into his heart.

Paul thought it over, it wasn't in his nature to apologize; but he took in a deep breath and attempted to think of something thoughtful to say.

Dawn felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned her head and Paul was staring directly into her eyes; his look was sincere, "I'm sorry, thank you for earlier."

Paul apologized to her staring straight at her, not mumbling the words, or looking away; he took his hand off of her shoulder and placed his eyes onto the fire. Dawn drooped her head down a little, her hair was now covering her face; her cheeks were bright red.

"You're welcome," she smiled.

After a half hour had gone by, Dawn had begun to feel sleepy after staring into the fire, she stretched and yawned; a howls and growls in the distance were heard, and it kept Dawn awake when she was about to fall asleep.

After another thirty minutes had gone by, Dawn had begun to drift off sitting up; Paul noticed the head dropping motion, it was all too familiar to him. He continued to watch the girl fight to stay awake, but a few minutes later she finally fell asleep; it was interesting to Paul to see Dawn sleep sitting up, the girl's hair covered her face and Paul could hear light breathing. When he put his eyes back onto the fire Dawn leaned over onto his side, Paul blinked and his eyes widened at the sudden movement from the girl; he looked down at her. Paul, the cold hearted pokemon trainer, was now blushing; he wasn't going to protest this time, he wasn't going to wake her.

Instead, Paul leaned his head back against the tree and continued to let the blue haired girl lay on his chest; she looked tired, and Paul knew what they had been through today took a lot out of them, mentally and physically. Dawn stirred in her sleep and wrapped her one arm around Paul's waist, she snuggled up against his chest; Paul's face was now beat red.

Paul was holding his breath, he then relaxed after a few more minutes; Dawn's head lifted and lowered as Paul's chest rose up and down. Her body was keeping him warm underneath the wet blanket; Paul's cold expression had now gone, and a more soft one took over for the rest of the night; Paul stayed up for another hour to keep watch, but his eyes began feel heavy and could no longer keep them open. He slowly closed his eyes, and before he drifted off to sleep, he pulled Dawn closer.


	5. Boiling Point

**Thanks again for the reviews ^_^ And Dreamin'Ferno, you and anyone else can spam as much as you like XD**

Also, for anyone who is interested, Paul's voice actor played "Jake" from the show Daria. If you search on youtube, there's a song he did that's posted on there. It's spelled, "God God Damit" when you put it in the search bar. I found it very entertaining, listening to Paul's voice and then that song makes it seem so out of character XD

Kanto Safari

Chapter 5 - "Boiling Point"

The helicopter landed in an open area on the mountain, Officer Jenny stepped off and waited for the two boys to arrive; she had seen them following, the terain didn't look too tough to travel over. After a few more minutes, Ash and Brock were seen running towards Officer Jenny and the helicopter, Ash was waving his hand in the air toward her and Nurse Joy.

"Hey!" he shouted.

Jenny smiled, then her eyes widened when she looked behind them; Brock noticed the change in expression, "What's wrong with Officer Jenny?"

Ash squinted his eyes as he looked at the officer, "Look out!" Officer Jenny yelled.

Behind Ash and Brock, three Rhydon had came barreling through the trees and charged after the two boys; they started to feel the ground shake behind them. Brock and Ash turned around, "Keep going!" Brock yelled as they continued running.

The Rhydon roared and began swiping at them as they neared the helicopter, the pilot looked over at Officer Jenny, "We need to take off. _Now!_ Those Rhydon will tear through the helicopter."

"Fine, take us up a little."

The helicopter began hovering over the ground, Officer Jenny stepped back on and put her heel down on the bottom rail, "Come on, hurry up you too!"

When they reached the helicopter, Ash held one hand onto his head to keep his hat in place; he jumped at Officer Jenny who had her hand out to help the boys. Officer Jenny pulled Ash up first, then Brock jumped up and was pulled in by Officer Jenny.

After they were on, they helicopter lifted off, the Rhydon stamped their feet on the ground and roared upward toward the copter.

"That was a close one," Officer Jenny said wiping her forehead.

Ash and Brock were catching their breath as they sat down, Ash looked over at the blue haired woman, "Officer Jenny," Ash gulped down a breath of air.

"Our friends, we were being chased by rampaging Kangaskhan. We had to cross a river, but they didn't make it!"

Ash leaned forward, "Please, you have to help us find them!"

Officer Jenny held out her hands, "Okay, calm down, calm down. We'll make sure to find your friends."

"Officer Jenny, what's been going on? Those Kangaskhan should have been pretty docile, something doesn't seem right here."

Nurse Joy was holding her hand to her face and looking away, Officer Jenny then gave the boys a serious look, "We have a lot to talk about."

***

During the night, Dawn awoke shivering; even with Paul next to her, the cold nights on in the zone were lower than that of the previous towns her, Ash and Brock had traveled too. When Dawn opened her eyes, she noticed herself laying on Paul's chest.

_When… when did this happen?_

After panicking for a moment, Dawn felt that it was actually pretty comfortable laying up against him; she looked up and saw the purple haired boy in a deep sleep. Dawn smiled, when she adjusted herself slightly she could feel Paul's hand wrapped around her waist underneath the blanket; Dawn blushed.

She continued to shiver violently, she wanted to pull the blanket up further over her, but didn't want to wake Paul. Dawn blew out hot air and could see the small cloud in front of her; just as she was about to do it again, Dawn felt Paul move.

She looked up at him and he eyes were directed onto the blanket that laid over top of them, with his one free hand Paul grabbed it and covered Dawn and himself more. He then laid his head back and rested against the tree trunk, he was awake, but Dawn was wondering why he had not told her to move away; Paul had also not chosen for himself to move away from the girl.

His eyes shut again, he had not bothered to look at Dawn, though he could feel her constant shivering; since Paul had not decided to move away from her, Dawn rested her head back onto his chest. She could feel his heart beat, it was soothing to her; however, Dawn still didn't understand Paul's actions. The trainer was patient with her one minute, and uncaring the next. So as not to cause an argument in the morning, Dawn decided to speak up, "Sorry for falling asleep on you, again…"

Paul mumbled a low grunting response, there were a few seconds of silence, "Are you cold?" Dawn said as she continued to shiver.

"No," Paul replied, his eyes still closed.

"Okay…"Paul opened one eye, then closed it again; he slid his other hand underneath the blanket and wrapped that one around Dawn's waist as well, he then rested his head to the side. Dawn's face had gone red again, Paul's hand was so warm; his heartbeat so soothing, she began to feel herself drifting off again. She looked back up at Paul who was now back asleep, she gave a soft smile.

_Is there really another side to you?_

A few hours passed, it was now 7am and the sun had not yet reached to where Dawn and Paul had slept during the night. Dawn stretched and cracked her eyes open, she was lying against something hard; it didn't feel the same as last night. When Dawn fully awoke she was sleeping on the ground, the blanket and was laying over top of her; she heard crackles from a fire. Dawn continued laying on the forest floor and looked ahead of her, Paul was standing in front of her with his hands pointed towards the fire. She could only see the back of him, Dawn sat up in between the two sleeping bags; Paul heard the rustling behind him and looked over his shoulder.

He then looked back into the fire, "We need to get going if we're going to find your friends."

Dawn rubbed her eyes, she remembered her and Paul cuddling through the night, though now he seemed to have reverted back to his cold exterior. She didn't know if she wanted to bring it up to him, it was doubtful that Paul would even want to talk about it; but why had they been close last night anyway? Rather than pressuring him, Dawn chose to wait for a different chance to discuss their night together.

Dawn stood up from the sleeping bags, she began to roll hers up; Paul continued to keep his hands in front of the fire.

_Why did he act that way last night? Why did I respond that way last night? Does he… have feelings for me? Do I have feelings for him? No, I would never. But I can't stop blushing when he's near. I can't like him, I just can't…_

Dawn watched Paul grab a large branch and began putting the fire out.

_Can I?_

After the two were packed, Paul continued in the direction they were heading in yesterday while keeping an eye out for Team Rocket. Dawn strolled up next to Paul, she kept her eyes ahead of her and bit down on her lip; she began thinking up different ways to get Paul's attention. Maybe she could find out if Paul was hiding his feelings if Dawn played around with the damsel in distress tactics. A sly look went across her face and she put her eyes onto Paul, his attention was on the trail in front of them; Dawn sidled up closer to him and grabbed onto his arm. She had been feeling shy around Paul, and even though she thought she had some good ideas to get underneath his hard surface, the task at hand still seemed difficult. She blushed while holding onto his arm, she then opened her mouth, "It's still a little cold out here," Dawn said shrugging her shoulders, pretending to shiver.

Paul looked down at the girl's arms wrapped around his, "Don't touch me," he coldly said jerking his arm away.

_Eh, that didn't work…_

From previous events, Paul had shown his softer side when Dawn was in need of help, so the blue haired trainer thought of something else. She looked down at her feet and saw a few upcoming rocks on the trail, if Dawn did this stunt to get Paul's attention it would be the third time it happened since they arrived to the safari zone. When the rocks came up to Dawn's feet, she lightly kicked it and forced herself to fall over. Paul heard the tumbling behind him and turned around, he raised an eyebrow looking down at the girl.

"Ah… I think I hurt my ankle," Dawn said putting her hand over it.

Paul let out a frustrated sigh, "You're fine. Let's keep going."

Dawn was unimpressed, Paul wasn't falling for any of her tricks; she dusted herself off and ran up to catch gave him a serious look, "You're hiding something from me."

Paul kept quiet and continued on the trail, "You attempt to carry me back to my friends, you helped my headache go away, _and_ you let me sleep near you and made sure I was warm last night?"

"I still think you're annoying," Paul said keeping his hands in his pockets.

Dawn felt angry, but she wasn't about to yell at him, she narrowed her eyes at glared at the boy, "You're lying."

Paul stopped and looked at her, "Do you want to find your friends? Or are you going to make this more difficult than it should be."

Dawn raised her hands to her chin, "Can't you just put your cold exterior down for one second? Everything you've done for me so far… it has to mean something."

Paul stared into her blue eyes, "It doesn't."

After Paul's comment, the look on Dawn's face made even his heart hurt; Dawn looked away from him. They both then heard a noise behind the trees up ahead, Paul crouched down behind a pair of bushes, Dawn was in a daze for a moment; she then followed Paul and bent down behind the them.

"That might be Team Rocket," Paul said, keeping his eyes in the direction of the noise.

Dawn had heard what Paul said, though part of her ignored it; she was still dwelling on their conversation.

_I can't be wrong on this._

The noise grew louder, and Paul and Dawn watched as a Scyther appeared from behind the trees up ahead.

"Perfect," Paul said grinning.

He grabbed a poke ball and bait from his backpack and walked in front of the bushes, Dawn's mouth was open, "You're going to catch it?"

"What do you think," Paul said coldly, the poke ball held in front of his face.

He tossed the bait at the wild Scyther, when it seemed to be distracted, Paul threw the poke the ball.

Before it was even halfway to the Scyther, it's eyes went onto Paul and charged at him, "Scyyyther!"

The ball hit the wild pokemon and it dropped to the ground, the ball wobbled from side to side before making the captured sound. Paul kept his grin on his face and walked over to it, he picked it up and went over the stats.

"Hmm, you'll do."

Dawn sighed and stood up from behind the bushes, Paul stared at the poke ball before putting it onto his belt, "There was something different about that Scyther," he said.

Dawn walked up to him, "Paul," she began.

Paul was looking at his pokedex, "What is it," he carelessly asked.

"You can be very blunt, but for once, I know you're not being honest."

Paul growled, "What is your problem?"

"_You!_ You can't keep up guard up forever."

Paul stared at her for a moment, her words kept bouncing in and out of his heart. He put his pokedex away and crossed his arms, Paul shut his eyes, "You know, the more you open your mouth the more annoying you become."

Paul's eyes remained shut, he didn't hear any response from Dawn; then, he felt his head jolt to the side, his face was now stinging. Dawn had just slapped Paul, he kept his head in the same side position as he tried to gather what had just happened.

Dawn rested her hand to her side, she took in sharp breathes, "You…" she choked up.

"You're so cold, so heartless. You never show any compassion!" Dawn shouted at him as a tear dropped down onto the forest floor from her cheek.

Paul brought his hand up to the side of his face where Dawn had just hit him.

She held back her tears as she gave Paul a last dose of words, "You don't care at all," she growled.

Dawn began to storm off when she bumped into someone, "Well, well. What do we have here?"

A blue haired figure put a hand on his hip, "What _do_ we have here, Jesse?"

"A couple of twirps who just ran into trouble."

"Looks like we had better make it double."

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite-"

"Don't you guys have anything better to do?" Paul said, looking cross.

"Hey, no one talks to Team Rocket like that!" Meowth shouted.

Jesse clenched her firsts and growled, she pointed at Paul and Dawn, "Give us your pokemon!"

"And you're food, we're starving!" James whined.

Dawn wiped her face underneath her eyes, "We… we don't really have any pokemon."

"Yes you do! We just saw ya catch a Scyther, now hand it over!"

Paul remembered his wild natured Scyther from earlier, he grinned and took his poke ball off of his belt; Paul raised his hand in front of him with the poke ball, "Take it then."

The Scyther was released from it's poke ball, it rubbed it's blades together then raised them into the air, "Scyther!"

It glared at Team Rocket and readied itself to attack, James squealed; Jesse grabbed her poke ball, "A fight, huh? Alright then, Seviper! Go!"

Seviper appeared out it's poke ball and hissed at the Scyther, "Carnivine! I choose you!"

Carnivine also appeared out of it's poke ball, then began to attack James, he screeched loudly, "No, no! Carnivine, return!"

Carnivine was then put back into it's poke ball, Jesse took a step forward, "Seviper, poison tail!"

Seviper whipped it's tail at the Scyther, the bladed pokemon charged and dodged the attack, "What?" Jesse squeaked.

The Scyther jumped into the air and came down and slashed at Seviper, after it landed it bit into the snake pokemon. Seviper hissed, "Seviper!" Jesse called out.

"This ain't lookin' good!"

Paul clenched his teeth, he had not ordered Scyther to do anything, and he knew now that the pokemon was not going to obey any orders. Dawn backed up beside Paul, they both watched as the Seviper and Scyther continued to attack each other; Seviper wrapped itself around the Scyther, it then prepared a poison fang attack.

It bit into the pokemon, "Scyth!" it cried.

Seviper released it and it fell to to the ground, it slowly attemtped to stand back up; when it finally stood upright the Scyther ran off.

Jesse cheered, "Good job, Seviper! Now, get them!"

Seviper didn't move, it's back was turned to Team Rocket; from Dawn and Paul's side Seviper's expression began to change and it's eyes narrowed. It turned back on Jesse, James and Meowth, "Se…Seviper?"

"What's goin' on!?"

"Seviper, attack them!"

Seviper hissed at Jesse, she took a step back, "Jesse, I don't think Seviper is listening to you anymore."

The Team Rocket members began to shake in fear, "Seviper!" it cried.

Seviper's tail began to glow, it was preparing an iron tail attack, "Ahh, I think we should get outta here now!" Meowth said backing up further.

The Seviper charged at Team Rocket and swung it's tail with full strength and launched the trio into the air, "Well, it looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again," James sobbed.

Jesse squealed, "But my Seviper!"

Team Rocket dinged into the sky, the Seviper quickly turned around and began eyeing Paul and Dawn, the two stepped back.

"Run," Paul ordered.

The Seviper began staring Paul down and hissed at him, Dawn began trembling, they needed help. The Seviper began slithering over to Paul, Dawn bent down and gathered a few stones, she then hurled them at the snake pokemon.

"Hey, over here! Yeah, you!"

Paul saw the rocks being flung at the Seviper, he looked toward Dawn, "Get out of here!"

The Seviper changed targets and began rushing toward Dawn, she dropped the rocks and began walking backwards as the snake pokemon got closer and closer to her.

"Dawn!" Paul called out.

Seviper charged into Dawn hitting her with a tackle attack, the wind got knocked of her as she landed on the ground and rolled a few times before stopping. Dawn held her arm in front of her face to protect herself, all while trying to get the air back into her.

The Seviper was a few feet away from the girl, it was about to attack again, it coiled itself up and was readying a poison fang attack.

_Dawn…_

Paul dropped the poke ball to the ground, the Seviper charged out of it's position and headed straight toward Dawn again, the blue haired girl was coughing trying to catch her breath, she took her arm away from her face and shut her eyes as the snake pokemon charged. Dawn could feel her heart beating loudly as she prepared for impact again, "Seviper!" it cried again.

Dawn let out a cry, footsteps were heard before the Seviper reached her; she heard it's jaws shut and a grunt. She breathed in a few more breathes before feeling liquid drop down on her nose, she looked up and Dawn's heart jumped.

Paul was bent over her with the Seviper's jaws sinking down into his shoulder, it continued to hiss as blood from Paul's shoulder dropped down onto the ground and onto Dawn's nose. She quickly wiped the liquid away, "Paul…" she said trembling.

Paul's teeth were clenched as he squinted his eyes, he gasped from the pain and looked down at Dawn, "Get… get out of here." Paul managed to say, his voice was hoarse and the pain unbearable.

Dawn reached out her hand toward him, Paul used his one arm to push hers away, the movement caused his foot to give way and it skidded across the ground; he was now on one knee with his head lowered, but he slowly lifted it back up to Dawn using every ounce of strength he had left.

"Run…" he said in pain.

Dawn scrambled to her feat, the sight was horrifying; the Seviper continued to hiss, Paul looked weak. The fangs of the snake pokemon were deep into his shoulder and Dawn winced at the sight.

_I'm not leaving him, I'm not!_

Dawn looked above her and saw a close tree branch, she grabbed a hold of it and pushed her foot against the tree to pry it off; the branch broke and Dawn fell to the ground. Paul was breathing heavily and was beginning to slowy lose conciousness; Dawn got onto her feet again and picked up the branch, she then charged at the Seviper and swung it at the pokemon. The large branch collided with the pokemon's head and it was sent to the ground, the tree branch broke into two and dropped to the forest floor; the Seviper was knocked out cold.

Dawn quickly ran over to Paul who now had his eyes shut, he was clutching his shoulder; it was now bleeding through the cracks of his fingers. Dawn bent down in front of Paul, "Paul…" she said, her eyes beginning to water.

Paul opened his eyes and looked at her, "Are… are you alright?" Paul said in a raspy voice, taking in sharp painful breathe's.

Dawn's mouth hung open as she had one hand on Paul's good shoulder and the other pulled up to her face, she slowly nodded at him.

"Okay," Paul said before collapsing into Dawn's arms.

"Paul? Paul!" she cried.


	6. Getting Out

**Hello again, thanks for the wonderful reviews! I know this chapter is pretty short compared to the other ones, but I didn't want to finish the story too soon. I could have XD So there are probably 2 more long chapters left, maybe 3 and this will be complete. Here is chapter 6, enjoy!**

Kanto Safari

Chapter 6 - "Getting Out"

"Paul? Paul!" Dawn cried as she looked down at the injured trainer.

She couldn't stop trembling, but she knew she had to get out of the area quickly before Seviper woke up. She was scared, but determined; she was going to get Paul out of here, and she was going to do it now.

Standing up she got behind Paul and slowly placed his injured arm over his chest, she planned on dragging him to a safe location; Paul moaned as he drifted in and out of consciousness, the poison would eventually spread throughout his body if Dawn didn't get help soon. She put her hands underneath his good arm and began dragging Paul along the soft dirt, she kept an eye on the Seviper as she passed by it. Dawn had dragged Paul through the forest for fifteen minutes before she had to sit down and take a rest; if she fainted from over exerting herself, Paul wasn't going to be there to carry her again.

She wiped her forehead as she glanced at Paul, he could feel the blue eyes looking him over; slowly, he opened his to look back at Dawn. "You were supposed to run away," he said weakly.

"I couldn't…" she said looking down at her hands. "I couldn't leave you."

Paul took his eyes off of her and grabbed onto his shoulder wincing, "Stupid girl," his said quietly.

Dawn quickly looked back at him, "Don't touch it."

Paul let out a painful gasp as his shoulder continued to throb more, he was beginning to feel dizzy, but Paul planned on remaining awake for as long as he could.

Dawn put her hand on her knee and stood up, "I had to take a rest, I'm going to get you out of here. You need serious medical attention, Paul."

Paul closed his eyes, he hated being in the weak state he was in, and now a girl had to save him?

"Fine," Paul said, giving in.

Dawn grabbed Paul's arm a second time and began pulling him along the forest floor, she then heard what seemed to be loud thunder; Dawn looked up, she then identified the sound.

"A helicopter!"

Paul almost jumped out of his clothes, Dawn's voice echoed through his head and started the beginning of a headache. Dawn gently laid him on the ground and began to search for an open area, there were only more trees; she began to panic, this might be her only chance to find help.

The helicopter flew over the both of them, the forest was too thick, and Dawn put both hands on top of her head in frustration. She kneeled down on the ground, and as the helicopter flew over them and became quieter Dawn's eyes began to tear up. This was supposed to have been a fun journey, but all that Dawn had encountered so far were wild emotions and near death situations. She then felt a hand on her shoulder, it was Paul's; he was struggling to keep his balance. He kneeled down beside her, "Stop crying already. We'll get out of here."

She wiped her eyes, "You shouldn't be moving."

"I can move…" Paul replied, wobbling back to a standing postion.

He placed his hand over his shoulder and looked around at the trees, "Come on, this way."

Paul almost toppled over, but Dawn ran onto his side and held him up with his arm around her. Dawn bit her lip at the poor sight the boy was in, "You're in no condition to move, Paul."

Dawn could hear the haggard breathing coming from him before he replied, "It'll be faster if I walk."

Dawn knew Paul was going to be stubborn, but for now she agreed with him so they could get of this place as fast as possible. The two began to walk, Dawn kept an eye on him as each step seemed more painful than the next; Paul knew Dawn was looking at him, and tried to keep on a strong face.

"Let me know when you want to rest," she told him.

Paul grunted, his body ached; however, when he looked into Dawn's eyes the pain seemed to disappear, even if only for a moment. They continued to make their way through the forest, Paul's coat was bloodied and his face kept getting paler; Dawn thought the amount of worrying she had done had reached it's limit, that was until Paul fell to his knees. He jerked his hand away off of Dawn's shoulder and put it over his injured one, he shut his eyes and tried to take in slow, deep breathes. Dawn put her hand over his back and kneeled down beside him, and without thinking to herself she instantly leaned her head against Paul's.

He felt a warm feeling come over him and he held his breath for a moment when he felt the blue hair tickle his neck, "It's going to be okay," she whispered in a soothing tone.

At that moment, Paul didn't feel so helpless that a girl was looking after him, it did feel kind of nice; he let Dawn lean against him. She felt a strange connection between them as they both sat there in the thick forest next to each other, she put his arm back over her and stood up; Paul slowly stood up with her.

The fear had slightly gone away, and there was more of a light feeling in the air between the two, "You're going to owe me after this one," Dawn said smiling.

Paul bent his head downward slightly and smirked, "Hn," he replied.

Paul knew in his mind that Dawn was really the one who owed him, but he wasn't going to argue with her; fifteen more minutes had gone by, and Dawn could hear Paul start to pant heavily again. She looked over at him, beads of sweat were sliding down his forehead; the path in front of them began to double, and Paul started to feel dizzy again.

_The poison is spreading._

Dawn kept a close eye on the injured trainer, but as ten more minutes went by Paul's legs were starting to give out; Dawn held him up the three times he almost stumbled to the ground.

"Paul, we have to stop."

"No," Paul said breathing heavily.

Dawn wasn't going to put up with his stubborness any longer, she slowly bent down and gently pushed Paul to the ground, making him lie on his back. He was too weak now to fight back, and he laid there helpess with the forest spinning; Dawn kneeled over him and looked into his eyes. Paul's breathing began to slow, she shook him as gently as she could, "Paul? Paul, stay with me. You have to stay awake."

Paul now had his eyes shut, but Dawn's voice echoed in his mind; he opened his eyes again, Dawn saw a look of pain on his face. The poison was spreading quickly now, and they had not found their way out of the forest; Dawn's face became blurry to him, he heard her calling his name, but everything went into darkness. Dawn kept shaking Paul's chest, he groaned as he kept fighting for consciousness, "Paul, no! Wake-"

Dawn froze when she heard a tree in the distance fall over, she saw where it came from, and she could barely make out the moving figures around the area. Dawn's mouth dropped when see saw a few Rhydon making their way toward her and Paul, she gasped and began to panic. Paul was too weak to move, they had no pokemon, and Dawn wasn't strong enough to carry him. She quickly thought of a way to get away from the Rhydon, she looked around and saw a bunch of bushes surrounding the bottom of a tree; Dawn rushed to pick up Paul's arm and dragged him onto the bushes. She laid his head on his lap and she and Paul hid in within the brush, in front of her were a numerous amount of berries. She grabbed a handful and looked at them, they were edible berries; Dawn froze when she felt the ground shake as the rock pokemon began passing by the two of them.

Two Rhydon stomped by, but the third heard Dawn rustling in the bush; a bug had landed on Dawn's noze causing her to swipe it away. Dawn saw the large pokemon start walking toward her, Paul moaned lightly as the ground began to shake. Dawn quickly covered his mouth, she held her breath as the Rhydon started sniffing the bush; the Rhydon's nose was getting closer to her feet. Dawn's heart stopped, and she continued to hold her breath; the two Rhydon up ahead began attacking each other, then started taking their rage out on another tree. The commotion caught the curious Rhydon's attention and it lifted it's head up, Dawn let out a breath; she then tossed the berries from the bush out onto the ground further away from the Rhydon. The rock pokemon stomped toward the berries that had just landed and began eating them, and after it was done it began heading back towards the other two Rhydon.

After five more minutes the rock pokemon disappeared into the forest, though the sounds of more falling trees could be heard, it was now safe for Dawn to relax. She gulped as she felt her heart start to beat back at a normal pace, she looked down at Paul. His breathing was still slow, she had to get him out of this zone and to a hospital; Dawn began dragging him through the forest again, the blue haired girl felt like crying from the amount of good deeds Paul had done for her. Dawn continued to hold it together, she looked over her shoulder to see a glimpse of the path ahead of her; through the thick forest, she could see a large field.

_Perfect!_

If another helicopter flew over them they could easily see her and Paul, Dawn began walking faster, still making sure not to disturb Paul. When Dawn finally got through the trees and stepped into the tall grass, she took a long breath of fresh air in; she pulled Paul further into the field, then kneeled down to take a quick break. Dawn wiped her forehead and waited to catch her breath, the morning sun was beaming down on Paul's face; he stirred from his unconciousness and slowly opened his eyes. Dawn was hovered over him looking into the distance, Paul's head was laying in her lap. When she felt Paul move his head Dawn looked down at the boy, her eyes softened, "Paul," she whispered.

"Are you doing okay? I got us out of that forest."

Though Paul didn't have the strength to respond, he was surprised Dawn had pulled him all the way to this area. He was about to look up at her when something else caught his eye, Dawn noticed the change in Paul's expression, "Paul? What's wrong?"

Paul tried to sit up, but his shaky arms wouldn't support him, "Paul, sit down! Tell me what's wrong."

The same figure then caught Dawn's eye, she gasped and her eyes widened, "Oh no, we have to get out of here!"

Dawn tried scrambling to her feet but knelt back down when she saw the same snake pokemon that attacked both of them earlier; slithering quickly through the trees was Jesse's infected Seviper, and it was headed straight towards Paul and Dawn. Dawn held Paul close and put her head on his other shoulder, she closed her eyes as Paul kept his on the incoming snake. He gritted his teeth and they both held their breath, then a blast of razor leaves collided with the Seviper. The snake pokemon hit the ground and was slowly recovering from the attack, Dawn and Paul both heard the razor leaf attack and looked into it's direction.

The giant turtle pokemon stomped towards Dawn and Paul and put itselt between the Seviper and the two trainers, Paul's gasped, "T-Torterra?" he said weakly.


	7. Our Bond

**Updated twice in one day? Hells yes. Watching the newer episodes Torterra started to grow on me, I don't know what it is about that spikey pokemon, but it made it's way into being my second favorite grass starter underneath Bulbasaur. Thanks for the reviews, I received them so quick XD**

Kanto Safari

Chapter 7 - "Our Bond"

"Torterra!" the grass pokemon shouted.

Dawn's face lit up, it was definitely Paul's Torterra; a smirk went across his face, had his pokemon really followed him here?

The Seviper recovered and coiled itself back up, readying it's next attack.

"Oh no, Seviper is going to use it's poison fang again!"

Torterra lowered it's head and stood it's ground, Paul stretched out his shaky arm, "Torterra, earthquake!" he shouted as loud as he could.

Torterra rose up on it's two legs and then slammed down into the ground, causing it to split straight towards the Seviper. The snake pokemon was too slow to react and was thrown back into the grass by the clashing of the ground, it shook it's head and began slithering back towards Torterra and the two trainers.

Even in his condition, Paul still was ready for a battle now that his Torterra was here; he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, "Torterra, frenzy plant!"

"Torrrterra!" the grass pokemon cried, it sent pointed branches out of the ground towards the Seviper.

The Seviper dodged the first few branches, but was taken down by the rest. It landed hard onto the ground, the Seviper had fainted and Torterra was stomping it's front feet up and down in victory.

Paul brought his arm back to himself and winced at the pain now coming back to his body, Torterra heard the painful whimpering coming from Paul and immediately went to its trainer's side. Paul opened his eyes and saw the large grass pokemon's head in his face, he couldn't help but smirk a little. Dawn had always thought Paul treated his pokemon poorly, and on the surface that may have been true, but the way he and Torterra looked at each other it appeared as they did have a strong bond.

"I'm fine, Torterra," he said trying to push the grass pokemon away.

During the battle, Dawn had been wondering how Torterra had even got here, she didn't want to think about what might have happened if Paul's pokemon had not shown.

She looked up at the turtle pokemon, "Torterra, how did you find us?"

Torterra went back over to where it had came from, it returned with a dirty pokeball, Dawn gasped.

"Paul, that's your poke ball. You must have dropped it during the first fight with Seviper."

Paul rested his hand on top of Torterra's head, Dawn looked at Paul, "Torterra must have sensed something was wrong. I guess it broke out of it's own pokeball from back at the safari building."

Torterra wasn't the fastest pokemon, Paul knew it must have taken it a while to find them. Normally, Paul would have returned his pokemon back to its ball without even saying thank you, or good battle. Though this time, and it appeared to be what really went on when Dawn and her friends weren't around, Paul thanked his Torterra.

After a small moment of happiness, Dawn remembered the situation they were in; they were lost somewhere in the safari zone, and Paul still needed to get medical help.

"Torterra, Paul is seriously injured. We need you to help us get out of here," she pleaded.

Torterra nodded, an idea then came to Dawn, "We'll put you on Torterra's back, Paul."

Paul raised his hand, "Hold on."

Paul looked at his pokemon, "Torterra, use aromatherapy on me."

Torterra blinked, "Just do it," he ordered.

Torterra took a step back and a pink cloud surrounded Paul and Dawn, and in a brief second it disappeared.

Dawn looked confused, "Paul, what was that for?"

Paul struggled to sit up, "Since it's been too long, it might not reverse the poison. But at least now it won't be fatal."

Dawn remembered hearing from Brock that the move aromatherapy cures any status effects, she pulled on her ear and looked away; it seems that she still had a lot to learn.

Paul finally was able to sit up, he hunched forward and held onto his injured shoulder; Dawn helped him stand and Torterra bent down so that Paul was able to get onto its back. After a couple minutes of struggling and slipping, Paul was on top of his Torterra; and though he had Torterra for a while now, it was the first time he had actually ridden on it.

Dawn gave a soft smile with her arms on her hips, she looked up at Paul, "All good to go?"

Paul nodded, but continued to look down at the girl, he stretched out his good arm.

"Come on," he gestured.

Dawn pointed to herself, "M-me?"

Paul growled under his breath, "Yes, you. Now come on."

Torterra put it's eyes on Dawn and kneeled back down for her to climb on, Dawn ignored Paul's arm and grabbed onto Torterra's spikes. She was finally on top of the grass pokemon sitting in front of Paul; he leaned up against the tree. Dawn looked back at him, impressed that she didn't have to tell the boy to rest up, she kneeled down to get closer to Torterra's head, "Torterra, do you know the way back?"

"Torterra!" it nodded.

The pokemon began stomping it's way into the direction of what Dawn and Paul hoped would be back to the safari building; they traveled through the open field, and it gave Dawn chills. It was only them, ever since the waterfall they had not seen any other trainers, Dawn began fiddling with her scarf as she became more nervous. Paul, who was back against the tree behind Dawn, had already dozed off. She kneeled forward again and whispered to the grass pokemon, "Thanks by the way, Torterra."

It grumbled happily and nodded, and for the next hour there were no other words spoken. Dawn didn't want to rest, she had been worrying more savage pokemon were going to attack, and even though they now had Torterra the grass pokemon wouldn't be able to fight off a herd of them.

Dawn remained holding onto a spike sticking out of Torterra's back as she sat on her knees, it was too bad things had to end like this. Though the safari zone wreaked of fear and terror at the moment, if things would have just gone normally it would have been a nice place to journey through. Dawn sighed, but if the events from the last two days had never happened her and Paul might not have created a friendship, even if it was only the beginning of a little one.

Was it a friendship though? Or was it something more? Dawn had been going over this in her mind ever since Paul carried her through the forest, there just had to be something he's covering up. Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to talk about such things, Paul was injured and the two were lucky enough to have ran into Torterra. First things first, Paul needed medical attention; and maybe, just maybe Dawn would have enough courage to bring up where her relationship might be standing with the once cold hearted pokemon trainer.

Torterra stopped, Dawn almost fell forward with the immediate halt from the grass pokemon, "Is something wrong, Torterra?"

Dawn was hoping Torterra just needed a break, she pleaded in her mind for no more raging pokemon encounters. Paul awoke from his sleep, he noticed that his pokemon had stopped moving, "Torterra, what is it?" he demanded.

Deep in the grass ahead, was a large group of Scyther; one of the Scyther had his eyes on Paul.

Dawn put her hand to her face, "Paul, I think that Scyther is back for you."

Paul had not yet noticed the group of Scyther in the grass, "What are you talking about?" he said coldly.

Dawn pointed into the direction of the Scyther, who were fluttering their wings jumping up and down out of the grass toward the two trainers and Torterra. Paul was unimpressed, he was ready to order Torterra to attack, but then heard the sounds of a helicopter.

***

"We've got more ground crew searching for your friends, if we can't find them, they will." Officer Jenny reassured Ash and Brock.

Ash ignored Officer Jenny's comment, Nurse Joy watched as the Kanto trainer looked out from the window. Ash then sprang up, "There they are!"

Everyone immediately put their eyes on Ash, then they looked out the window, Brock gasped.

"He's right, there's Torterra, Dawn and Paul!"

"Look though, there's a group of Scyther heading towards them!" Nurse Joy shouted.

"We need to land the helicopter down right now," Officer Jenny ordered.

***

"That…that's Ash!" Dawn called out, seeing the spikey haired boy looking down from the window.

Paul was relieved to hear help was on the way, but practically ignored Dawn as the Scyther made their way toward them. Torterra took a step back and growled, "Wait, Paul. Don't attack, there's too many of them. The helicopter is almost here, we-"

Paul pulled Dawn back just in time to miss the incoming Scyther's blade, the pokemon landed back on the ground and looked back up at the two trainers. Torterra charged a few steps toward the Scyther, it backed off and waited for the rest of the group to get closer.

They both then heard Officer Jenny's voice over a microphone, "Stay calm, you two. We're landing down closer, we'll drop a ladder. Keep your distance from those Scyther!"

"This doesn't look good," Brock said putting his hand against the window as he looked down.

The Scyther that first attacked Dawn attacked again, but was blocked by Torterra's head butt. The remaining Scyther finally reached the trainers, the wind from the helicopter started to blow and the grass blew wildly along with the hair of Dawn and Paul. Dawn began to shake as the Scyther began to attacking viciously, Torterra fought bravely and was successfully fighting off each of the Scyther's incoming attacks.

Paul and Dawn tried holding on tight to the grass pokemon's back, but it was becoming difficult as the movements from Torterra swung them back and forth as it continued to protect the two trainers. Paul's recently caught Scyther stood a few feet in front of Torterra, it cried out then jumped in the air off of Torterra's head and had it's blade coming straight down toward him and Dawn.

Paul had no choice but the push the blue haired girl off of Torterra, Dawn stumbled onto her knees as she was thrown off of the pokemon's back. Paul dodged the Scyther's blade and it clanged against Torterra's armor, Paul accidently slipped off of his pokemon and landed onto his back in the grass. He let out a painful gasp and grabbed onto his shoulder, the Scyther saw where he had landed and jumped off of Torterra to attack again. Paul almost had the wind knocked out of him and was now to slow to move, the Scyther's blade came down towards him as if it was happening in slow motion. Paul's eyes widened, then quicky shut them; the sun from the sky seemed to have disappeared, and it felt darker around the purple haired trainer. There was another clanging sound, Paul opened his eyes, Torterra was standing over top of him growling at the Scyther. Paul turned over now laying on his stomache, he could see the Scyther's feet underneath Torterra's head.

The Scyther attacked but Tortera sent out a razor leaf causing the Scyther to retreat a few steps. Dawn was heard screaming from the other side, Paul covered his head as Torterra's feet stomped around him and heard another razor leaf attack being sent off. Dawn noticed Paul was underneath Torterra, she quickly ran and slid under the grass pokemon; the two trainers were breathing heavily as their adrenaline started pumping again.

"We're lowering the ladder down! Be careful, you two!" Officer Jenny shouted.

The sounds of the attacking Scyther, the helicopter and Officer Jenny's microphone all seemed to overlap each other. Dawn gulped, Paul grabbed her shirt and pulled her out from underneath his pokemon, he could see the ladder being lowered over Torterra.

Officer Jenny grabbed a poke ball from her belt, "Growlithe, go! Flamethrower those Scyther, now!"

Growlithe stood near the open door of the helicopter, "Grow!"

The fire dog sent out a flamethrower towards the Scyther and for a few moments the bug pokemon backed off, Paul looked at Dawn, "Get on top and get up that ladder."

"But-"

"_Now_," Paul ordered, pushing Dawn up onto the grass pokemon.

Dawn was now kneeling on Torterra's back, the ladder flapped back and forth in front of her, "Paul, come on!"

Dawn slipped a little when Torterra blocked another attack from an incoming Scyther, Paul ducked down underneath Torterra, when there was a free moment Paul lifted himself back up.

"Hurry up! I'll go up after you. Now _go!_"

Dawn's hands were shaking, but she slowly nodded; reluctantly, she grabbed hold of the ladder and started climbing upward. It swayed back and forth from the wind, Dawn lowered her head into her chest and shut her eyes.

_Only a little bit longer…_

"Come on, Dawn! You can do it! Keep climbing!" Ash's voice called to her.

"Pi-pika-pi!"

Dawn continued to make her way up the rope, holding her breath for most of the way, she winced as the sounds of the blades clashed against the armor and it echoed through the area. Paul was successfully dodging the Scyther's attacks with Torterra's help, he looked up, Dawn was being pulled in by Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy; he felt relieved.

It was now his turn, Paul climbed on top of Torterra's back and put his good arm onto the ladder; he then reached for his belt, then felt his heart drop.

_Torterra's poke ball…_

That's right, Paul only had safari balls with him, Torterra's pokeball was back at the safari building. Torterra continued to fight bravely against the Scyther, but was beginning to feel fatigued. Torterra felt something was wrong and turned it's head to look back at Paul, his hand was near his poke ball belt, the grass pokemon knew it's pokeball was back at the building.

"Torterra!" it shouted.

Paul's attention was caught by the turtle pokemon, "Torrrterra!" it shouted again, as if ordering Paul to climb the ladder.

Paul narrowed his eyes, "No, Torterra."

Torterra blocked another attack from Paul's old Scyther, "Scyther!" it cried as it wiped it's blades together.

Torterra began trying to shake Paul off of his back, forcing him to put two hands onto the ladder, "Torterra, stop!" he barked angrily at his pokemon.

Officer Jenny's voice was heard from above, another flamethrower was firing down from Growlithe, "Paul, get on the ladder! Now!"

"Are you alright, Dawn?" Brock asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. We need to save Paul and Torterra! They're in need of more help!"

"Don't worry Dawn, we're not going anywhere without them," Ash reassured her.

Nurse Joy looked over at the boy, "Ash, the helicopter won't be able to hold Torterra's weight. Even if it did, we don't have the equipment to bring it up here."

Torterra sent off a wild frenzy plant attack, and the pointy branches ripped through the ground crashing against all of the Scyther. The grass pokemon looked back at Paul, it nodded, "Torterra," it said calmly.

Paul saw Torterra breathing heavily after the numerous attacks on it, it fought against the rampaging Scyther bravely for him and Dawn, he couldn't just leave it. Paul knew that there was no other way to transport Torterra into the helicopter without it's pokeball, and if he stayed to fight along side his pokemon Torterra's efforts would have been in vain.

Paul put his head against the ladder, he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes; he didn't want to have to do this. He gripped the ladder tight, Paul then started to climb, "Torterra!" the grass pokemon cried, it sent out an earthquake attack, but the Scyther leaped into the air and brought their blades down onto the armored pokemon. The Scyther were growing more frustrated as the armor was not wearing down, Paul's old Scyther saw him trying to escape; it leaped back into the air brought back it's blades for a savage slash attack. Paul gasped as he heard the pokemon heading towards him, it was then knocked away by Torterra's razor leaf, the wind and razor leaves blew by Paul causing him to sway back and forth on the ladder. Paul opened his eyes and continued to climb, not wanting to look back at the scene between his faithful Torterra and the Scyther.

Each step brought more pain to his heart as he was leaving his pokemon further and further behind; Torterra used one last frenzy plant as the Scyther started to mimic what Paul's old bug pokemon had done. The grass pokemon was now panting heavily and was ready to collapse, it's armor had large gashes in it, but Torterra still held it's look of determination on it's face. Ash's head was seen looking over the opening of the door on the helicopter and down toward Paul, "Paul!" he shouted.

Hearing that voice made Paul cringe, and he angrily looked back up at the boy as he continued to climb; with his injured arm, he was making his way upward more slowly than Dawn had.

"Take this!"

A red and white ball was dropped down toward Paul, the purple haired trainer caught it just in time; it was unmistakable, it was _Torterra's _poke ball. Without hesitation Paul looked back down at his pokemon, the Scyther had gathered up in a group and were preparing a major attack on the grass turtle. They all leaped into the air, their blades glistened in the sunlight and the cries from the bug pokemon we heard overtop of the helicopter.

Paul quickly stuck out his arm, "Torterra, return!"

A red light glowed over Torterra and it was sent back into it's poke ball, the Scyther crashed into each other as it was returned just in time before their attack. They slashed their blades together as they watched Paul reach the top of the helicopter; he held Torterra's poke ball close to his heart as he finished the painful climb. Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy pulled the injured boy into the helicopter; finally, he, Dawn and now Torterra were safe.

Everyone but Dawn's mouth hung open when they saw the condition Paul was in, the purple haired trainer dropped to his knees as the helicopter began flying back to base camp. Nurse Joy laid him down on his back and looked him over, Paul was exhausted; the adrenaline was beginning to wear off and Paul was starting to feel pain and fatigue again. He still managed to get a last few words in before passing out, he looked up at Ash, "How…how did you have Torterra's poke ball?"

Ash leaned forward and looked down at his Sinnoh rival, "When we were taken back to the safari building, Louis had told us that a Torterra had broke loose and was making it's way across the safari zone. I could only imagine that your pokemon would be the only ones to defy the rules of the poke ball. We weren't sure what we were going to run into searching for you two, so I made sure to bring it's pokeball along with your other pokemon with me."

A good deed done by Ash Ketchum, for Paul? It was good enough for him, everyone was now safe, and Paul was now able to rest peacefully as the helicopter made it's way back to camp. Dawn smiled to herself as Paul closed his eyes to rest, no one else had known what had gone on in the forest between them; Dawn still wasn't able to come to a conclusion for herself, she still had to discuss it with Paul. Dawn could feel herself drifting off, everyone was happy to know that the others were safe, but they remained silent on the journey home.

***

Later that evening, Dawn awoke from her days worth of sleep; she was laying on the chairs in the hospital lobby. Brock and Ashwere sitting in on each side of her, both reading magazines from the table in front of them. Dawn sat up and rubbed her eyes, Brock and Ash immediately looked over at her, "Dawn, you're awake!" Ash said relieved.

"How are you feeling?" Brock asked.

"Um, I feel fine," Dawn sat trying to understand where she was.

"You were out for a long time, but Nurse Joy and the other medical team got you all cleaned up."

"I don't remember," Dawn said scratching her head.

"That's okay, as long as you're feeling well, and safe and sound," Brock said patting the girl on the back.

Dawn stood up abruptly, "Paul! Where's Paul?"

"Calm down, Dawn. Paul's doing fine, he's in room 302 upstairs."

She turned around and looked at her two friends, "Is it alright if I go see how he's doing?"

Brock smiled and nodded, "Of course, Dawn. We will be down here."

Ash waved goodbye as Dawn walked off to the elevator that led upstairs; Dawn entered, she was the only one in it. She rubbed her arm up and down, if Paul was awake, now might have been a good time to talk about what happened between them in the safari zone. She was beginning to feel more and more nervous, _this is just a little schoolgirl crush, it's nothing._

Dawn kept telling herself to calm her down, the elevator dinged and Dawn walked off; she headed down the hall as she continued to look for room 302. Dawn could feel her heart beating as the doors read, 298, 299, 300, 301...

_What's wrong with me? I at least need to thank him. Yeah, that's what I'm doing._

When Dawn reached room 302 she took in a deep breath, she put her shaky hand on the doorknob and turned it.


	8. In Your Arms

**Well, it has finally come to an end. I had a lot of fun writing this story, I was having trouble writing this last chapter. I wanted to keep Paul in character as best I could, so I just left it for a few days thinking about it. It turned out A LOT shorter than I expected, but I felt I didn't need to write or add on to anything else. I'm not sure on what the next fanfic will be for me, possibly Yugioh, Pokemon, or Tales of Symphonia. Thanks for the reviews and future reviews!**

To gh0st25 : I will gladly review your upcoming stories, for sure.

Hope you all enjoyed this story and this chapter, see you soon.

~ Hunnybear22

Kanto Safari

Chapter 8 - "In My Arms"

Dawn turned the doorknob, she took a moment before pushing the door open; when she walked inside the room she could see Torterra sleeping near Paul. The purple haired trainer was asleep as well, and the sounds of small beeps were heard; Paul was all bandaged up and looked a lot better than he did the last couple of days. They had definitely been through a lot, and Dawn didn't want to wake him, so she turned back around and was about to close the door when she heard a voice.

"You can come in, you know."

Dawn turned around, Paul's eyes were now open looking directly at her. Dawn raised a hand to her face, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Are you coming in or not?" Paul's voice had gone back to it's strong, cold tone.

Dawn looked at the door handle, then back at Paul, "Um, yeah. I'll come in."

She closed the door gently and walked up to Paul's bed, there was a long silence between the two of them. "How are you feeling now?" she asked.

Paul looked out the window, "Better, and as soon as I get out of here I'm heading back to Eterna City."

Dawn looked at the floor, "Oh…"

Paul continued to stare out the window, purposely trying to ignore her sad face. Dawn pulled up a chair and sat beside Paul's bed; he finally turned his head towards her, "Aren't you going to be heading back with your friends now?"

Dawn rubbed her arm up and down, "Well, yeah. But like I said before…" she trailed off.

"The offer is always open for you to join us."

Paul grunted and turned away, Dawn squeezed the sheets in her hand.

_Was now the time to tell him?_

"Paul, I…"

He didn't hear the girl continue, Paul then turned to face her and they both locked eyes. Dawn didn't need to say anything anymore, the moment they shared explained it all.

_Would it really work between us?_

Dawn opened her mouth, "I… wish you good luck on your journey."

She then turned around and ran out the door, droplets of tears trickled underneath the room light as she left. Paul sat up in his bed, "Hey!"

The door slammed, Torterra woke up and was now looking over at Paul. The purple haired trainer looked down at his bed, "Torterra," it put his eyes on his pokemon, "What? She can go if she wants to."

"Tor..terra," it came up and nudged Paul's hand.

"Stop it," Paul ordered.

He leaned back in his bed and stared up at the ceiling, Paul's heart had been feeling different ever since he arrived to the safari zone. Now that he had gotten a chance to rest, that feeling started to grow and Paul's heart was beginning to ache. He had never felt anything so emotionally strong before, Paul was beginning to realize that letting Dawn walk away wasn't the right decision, but did he really want to go after her?

_She's an annoying girl, and so are her friends._

Lies, Paul's heart knew that wasn't true, no matter what he said to himself. For the rest of the night, Paul laid in his bed contemplating; a nurse came into the room, Paul wanted to get out and continue on his journey already. So, to make things less awkward if Dawn were to come in again to say goodbye in the morning, Paul demanded that he be released. The nurse was finally convinced into letting him go, and later in the evening Paul was dressed and packed ready to go. His arm was in a sling, and he occasionally felt dizzy; but that night Paul made the long walk down the hallways of the hospital, and with a determined look he set back on his journey in Sinnoh.

***

Ash, Brock and Dawn decided to stay overnight in the hospital lobby before heading back to Eterna City, it was 8am; the next train to Sinnoh was leaving at 8:30. The next one wouldn't be leaving until 1:30, so the three trainers hurried to the train station of Fuschia. Dawn had not forgotten her last encounter with Paul, she felt like she had chickened out; but if Paul wanted to pursue anything further he would have went after Dawn.

_He is pretty stubborn though…_

"Dawn? Are you alright?" Ash asked as they walked onto the train."

Yeah, Dawn. Just let us know if anything is wrong, you've seemed a little out of it since we go out of the safari zone."

"I'm fine," Dawn gave a fake smile as she got onto the train, her arms wrapped around her.

She sat next to the window this time and rested her head on her hand, Dawn watched as the last number of people got ono the train; none of them the purple haired trainer she was hoping for. It was a long train ride back to Eterna, but everything seemed to go by quickly in Dawn's mind; she spent most of her time day dreaming while looking out the window. It was now evening, and the train had just entered Eterna City.

"Finally," Ash said adjusting himself in his seat.

It was raining in the city, Dawn saw a couple walking underneath their umbrella together; as they arrived at the Eterna train station Dawn finally began to break down after holding it in all day. Her eyes started to water and her heart felt broken, Dawn rushed to get ahead of Ash and Brock in hopes that the rain would cover her tears.

"Whoa! Settle down, Dawn. What's the rush?" Brock asked as the girl hurried down the isle in front of them.

Ash put his hands over his head, "She just wants to stretch her legs probably."

Dawn stepped off of the train, her legs almost buckled when she saw the soaked trainer she had been hoping to see standing in front of her. Dawn quickly attempted to wipe away her tears, the rain was pouring down hard; Paul immediately walked up to her. He raised his hand and wiped the tears away for her, Dawn began to blush when he gently put his hand on her face.

"Paul, I-I…" Dawn stuttered.

Paul lowered his arm and set it on Dawn's waist, and after a few more moments of staring into each other's eyes, Paul leaned in slowly and placed his lips on hers. Rain continued to fall, and both trainers were now soaking wet; it could have been a snowstorm, but all that mattered to the two of them was that they were sharing this moment together. Paul began to feel Dawn shaking, so he deepened the kiss and pulled her in close with his good arm.

Dawn had butterflies all over her stomache, she pulled away from Paul slightly and looked up at him, "You were hiding something all along," she whispered.

Paul smirked and leaned his forehead against Dawn's, she nuzzled her head into his. Brock and Ash stepped off of the train, only to notice that the two trainers were being close with each other. Brock smiled, he wasn't surprised; Ash's mouth mouth hung open, not knowing what to make of the situation.

"Dawn?"

Dawn turned her head and looked at the both of them, she blushed and began twirling her hair as she turned her attention to the ground. Paul gave Ash a cold stare, "Paul," Ash said, gritting his teeth.

"Now hold on, Ash." Brock said holding out his arm in front of the boy. "Something went on in the safari zone of Kanto, don't you see that they both care for each other?"

Paul grunted and turned his head away, he still didn't like hearing any mushy speeches, especially those coming from Dawn's friends. Dawn looked back up at Paul, he put his eyes back on the girl with her two friends in the background.

"Are you going to join us now?" she asked, looking at him with hopeful eyes.

"If you're going to learn about the world of pokemon," Paul began, glancing at Ash and Brock."It's best if you train underneath me."

It wasn't specific on their relationship, but it's all Dawn wanted to hear. Brock stepped up to the both of them, "Come on, you two. Let's find some shelter and a bite to eat."

Brock began to walk off into the city's direction, Ash walked up near Paul and Dawn; he stared at Paul for a moment, and for once they both nodded respectively at each other.

"Let's go," Paul said gently pulling Dawn into the direction of Ash and Brock.

Dawn couldn't stop smiling, it was an amazing feeling. She held on tight to Paul's arm as they tried to stay underneath the closest shelter as they continued walking down the streets.

Paul had finally let blue haired girl into his heart, though it had to take some life threatening situations, the end result in both of their minds was rewarding. The droplets of rain covered the silence between the two of them, Dawn then leaned in and kissed Paul gently on the cheek. The biggest shade of red covered the trainer's face, and before reaching Brock's restaurant destination in Eterna City, Paul kept his smile on for all to see.


End file.
